BusinessWeek is trying to call a halt to Larry and Lucy's wedding! We get that Google is killing your print-ad sales. We get that being dependent on Web searches for, say, half of your traffic or whatever scares the bejeezus out of you. But really, mainstream media, this is a low blow — trying to put a pause on marital bliss with a conveniently planted scare story on billionaire prenups?
British billionaire and Virgin founder Richard Branson is going to be the best man in this weekend's wedding of Google cofounder Larry Page and his fiancée, Lucy Southworth, according to Reuters. Really? Richard Branson? The loudmouth entrepreneur who named his business empire after his sexual status? He and Larry are that tight? Branson over Larry's brother Carl, who is also a successful entrepreneur? Not Sergey Brin, Larry's cofounder, who reportedly had Larry do the honors at his wedding? Our cynical opinion: Branson's status in the wedding party was most likely a quid pro quo for hosting their nuptials on his privately owned Necker Island. (Photo by David Thomson/AFP)
Pictured, above, is the reception tent for this weekend's nuptials of recent Stanford Ph.D. Lucy Southworth and her beau, Larry Page, the Google cofounder worth about $20 billion. A curious charter captain in the British Virgin Islands decided to take the boat for a spin around the wedding site — the Richard Branson-owned Necker Island — and took these shots of the preparations. The tent above has apparently been outfitted with air conditioning and security cameras, more clearly pictured in the image below. The captain also noted that it looked like workers were adding sand to the beach and placing fake plastic palm trees along a sandbar to give it that authentic tropical look, I guess. What happened to Larry and Lucy's eco-friendly bash? More pictures after the jump.
New York gossip column Page Six has more details on this weekend's wedding of Google founder Larry Page and future Stanford Ph.D. Lucy Southworth. Even bilionaires have planning snafus. Logistics have turned nightmarish, to be expected when you cram 600 guests accustomed to penthouse suites and private jets onto a tiny island. The Southworth-Page nuptials, scheduled for Richard Branson's private Caribbean getaway, Necker Island, have taken over neighboring Virgin Gorda, a short boat trip away from the wedding site. Other details we've heard from a plugged-in tipster:
Today's San Francisco Chronicle has more details on the upcoming wedding of Google founder Larry Page and his girlfriend Lucy Southworth. The Chronicle confirms that it will be happening the weekend of December 8, but they can't seem to find the location. As we told you earlier this month, it's taking place on Necker Island, the Caribbean hideaway owned by Virgin billionaire Richard Branson. Branson, naturally, is expected to attend the event, along with San Francisco god-mayor Gavin Newsom and "many current and former Google employees" (Perhaps ex-girlfriend Marissa Mayer?). One person, though, is skipping the bash.
Let's say that you're the billionaire founder of a massively successful Internet giant, and you've booked Richard Branson's exclusive Caribbean getaway, Necker Island, for your bride-to-be's dream wedding. What's the only conceivable way to ruin it? Why, to book it on December 7, a date which will live in infamy. For those of you in the Facebook generation, that's when Bill Gates declared, 12 years ago, that Microsoft was going to own the Internet.
