Google's Brin splits with wife
Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki on Thursday were reportedly splitting up after six years of marriage.
Stories of a split mounted after technology new website AllThingsD first reported that the 40-year-old Google co-founder and his wife, an entrepreneur behind genetic testing firm 23andMe, are living apart.
Brin, who heads a special Google unit devoted to unusual projects such as self-driving cars and Internet-linked eyewear, is said by AllThingsD to be romantically involved with a 26-year-old member of the Google Glass team.
California-based Google declined to comment on the Brin breakup other than to confirm an amicable parting had taken place.
The development was not expected to affect the running of the Internet colossus since the couple was said to have inked a pre-nuptial agreement on how a split would be handled.
Brin and Wojcicki have a son and a daughter.
They reportedly met through Wojcicki's sister, who rented a Silicon Valley garage to the Google co-founders Brin and Larry Page.
Brin and Page used the garage as a base of operations after moving from a dormitory at Stanford University where they were students.
The garage came with a house, yard and outdoor hot tub where they were known to soak as the nascent company took shape in late 1998.
Susan Wojcicki reportedly dated a friend of Brin's and rented out her garage to help pay her mortgage. Susan Wojcicki became a Google executive and her sister became Brin's bride.
Google later bought the rented home, located a few miles from the company's headquarters in the city of Mountain View, to preserve as part of its legacy.
Google has invested in 23andMe, which Anne Wojcicki founded with Linda Avey. It offers genotyping services to individuals interested in learning inherited health risks.
Several years ago, Brin made his blogging debut by writing of his mother being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and how testing by 23andMe showed he has a gene mutation that "markedly" increases his chances of getting the illness.
Brin told of working with The Parkinson's Institute and the Michael J. Fox Foundation to combat the disease.
Brin and Anne Wojcicki have been involved in an array of business and philanthropic endeavors, including an eponymous foundation to which they have contributed heavily.
© 2013 AFP
