Google cofounder Larry Page has mysteriously disappeared from public life

Google cofounder Larry
Page.
Andrew
Kelly/Reuters

• At a time when big tech cofounders are increasingly
  stepping into the spotlight, Google cofounder Larry Page has
  faded from public view.
• He is increasingly taking less and less interest in
  Google’s day-to-day and spending more time secluded on his
  private Caribbean island,
  Bloomberg reports.
• Page is still active in the tech world but devotes his
  time to futuristic projects, such as investing in flying taxi
  firms.
• Larry Page declined to attend Senate Intelligence
  Committee hearing on big tech, at which Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
  and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg gave evidence.

Google cofounder Larry Page has visibly faded from public life.

While other big tech company founders like Facebook’s Mark
Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey have increasingly had to
step into the spotlight (both have appeared before Senate
hearings to justify their companies’ workings), Page is
reportedly withdrawing ever more from public life to spend more
time on his private Caribbean island,
Bloomberg reports.

Page cofounded Google with Sergey Brin in 1998. Both are
currently senior executives at Google’s parent company Alphabet,
where Page still holds company all-hands meetings, according to
Bloomberg.

Bloomberg notes that in the 1990s Page was diagnosed with
vocal-cord paralysis. He opened up
about the condition in 2013. He said it made his voice softer
and made long monologues more difficult. The 45-year-old Google
cofounder has not appeared in public since a TED talk in 2014,
despite Google recently
coming under attack from President Trump for alleged left-wing
bias and potential
antitrust violations.

The absence of Google leadership was most noticeable at the
Senate Intelligence Committee last week, where Twitter CEO Jack
Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg gave evidence. An

empty chair was left for Google after both Page and Google
CEO Sundar Pichai declined to attend.

Senator Mark Warner tore into Google’s leadership for failing to
turn up. “Given its size and influence, I would have thought
the leadership at Google would want to demonstrate how seriously
it takes these challenges and to lead this important public
discussion,” he said.

Bloomberg spoke to early Google investor-turned-critic Roger
McNamee about Page being a no-show. “Google has been incredibly
lucky to date that Facebook’s failures have been so much more in
focus, but they’re every bit as bad,” he told Bloomberg. “By not
showing up, it did Facebook a huge favor. If you’re a
shareholder, you should be furious. They guaranteed the intensity
will go way up.”

Being absent from public life doesn’t mean Page has withdrawn
from the world of tech entirely. According to Bloomberg, Page has
stopped taking an interest in corporate dealings at Google and
focuses exclusively on futuristic projects that capture his
interest. For example, Page has made major investments in flying
car companies like Kitty
Hawk and
BlackFly.

Page has always guarded his privacy, but a withdrawal from public
life may draw the ire of some, now that Google too is coming
under the microscope along with social media companies.

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