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How many planes does one man need? Or, more precisely, three men? Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin already own, with CEO Eric Schmidt, an extensively remodeled 767, pictured here in New Zealand. Schmidt, by himself, owns at least one Gulfstream V (some reports say he has two). But we now hear that the Google trio are buying a 757. While smaller than the widebody 767, the 757 is still a commercial airliner, considerably bigger than most private jets. So why would Page, Brin, and Schmidt need four planes between them?


Well, with four planes, there's no risk that one won't be available when the Google boys are ready to fly. But there's also this bean-counting theory: Google's insurers may now be insisting that the founders and CEO travel separately, to lessen the risk that all three might die in a single, tragic plane accident. Which would be the height of irony: Larry and Sergey could cast this bout of aerial extravagance as a sensible financial measure, lowering their insurance bills even as it raises their wealthy posteriors ever higher into the sky.