$93B SEPARATION: Google co-founder and world’s seventh richest man Sergey Brin files for DIVORCE

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has filed for divorce from his wife of four years, citing ‘irreconcilable differences’ in court papers, which also reveal that the pair have been separated since December.
The world’s seventh richest man, who is worth $93 billion, secretly filed for divorce from lawyer and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan back in January, according to Insider, which reports that papers submitted by the billionaire businessman state that details of the couple’s assets and how they will be split ‘are to be determined’.
The 48-year-old cited ‘irreconcilable differences’ as the reason for the split, while noting that he and Shanahan, whom he secretly wed in November 2018, have been separated since December 15.
Their divorce news comes just days after it was revealed that Brin had purchased a new home – a sprawling $13.5 million Malibu mansion once owned by popstar Pink.
Brin and Shanahan share a daughter, who was born in 2018, and the Google founder has asked to share custody of her as part of the divorce arrangements, which they are fighting to keep private out of fear that their daughter will be put at risk of ‘harassment’ or ‘kidnapping’.
However he has not asked Shanahan for child support and has requested that she do not receive any from him in the future.

According to Insider, Brin and Shanahan are intent on keeping the details of their divorce hidden from the public, with the outlet reporting that they are fighting to keep many details of the legal proceedings sealed, citing the tech mogul’s status as ‘one of the wealthiest and most famous technology entrepreneurs in the world’ as being behind the need for privacy.
The documents add that the couple fear for the safety of their daughter, who they claim could be put at risk of ‘kidnapping’ or ‘harassment’ if details of their divorce and custody battle are made public.
‘Petitioner is a co-founder of Google and one of the wealthiest and most famous technology entrepreneurs in the world,’ the outlet states the papers – which were filed by Brin’s layers – say. ‘Because of the high-profile nature of their relationship, there is likely to be significant public interest in their dissolution and child custody issues.
The couple are shelling out for a private judge to oversee their divorce in a bid to keep the details closely guarded, with Insider reporting that they are paying $950 an hour to employ the judge, as well as an additional $300 an hour for the judge’s assistant.
While costly, the use of a private judge can also help speed up divorce proceedings, which can take months, if not years, when handled by the public court system.
The arrangement is one that Brin is well-versed in; the Stanford-educated tech mogul also employed a private judge for his first divorce from entrepreneur Anne Wojcicki, with whom he shares two children, in 2015.
Brin and Wojcick split two years before their divorce was finalized, when she discovered illicit email exchanges between Brin and a young Google employee named Amanda Rosenberg,
Courtesy: Daily Mail