The Big Business of Being Sergey Brin

Running Sergey Brin’s family affairs is a full-time job—and it takes dozens of people. The Google co-founder, who’s worth about $30 billion, has ex-bankers and philanthropy experts working at his family office, Bayshore Global Management. Brin also has employed a former Navy SEAL for security, a yacht captain, a fitness coordinator, a photographer, and an archivist, according to profiles on LinkedIn.

Bayshore, based in Los Altos, Calif., shows how family offices, set up to manage money for the wealthy, also help them with every aspect of their daily lives. As the number of billionaires has swelled in recent years, so have opportunities for people who can cater to the needs of the wealthy and be discreet about it. “Family offices are expanding, and people are setting new ones up,” says Natasha Pearl, chief executive officer of Aston Pearl, a consulting firm serving single-family offices that manage at least $400 million. “It’s increasing demand for employees who can be trusted to keep the families’ private lives confidential.”