Google co-founder Sergey Brin has quietly walked away from a sizable bet on New York City apartments, selling his stake in a struggling real estate fund for just six cents on the dollar—a steep loss that lands right as Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s rent freeze tightens the screws on the city’s landlords. The world’s third-richest man offloaded his holding back to the fund’s manager, A&E Real Estate, according to documents filed in December and first reported by Bloomberg.Amphitheatre LLC, an entity tied to Brin, sold its shares in a fund holding nearly 5,900 units across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. Many of those apartments fall under New York’s rent-stabilization program. A&E confirmed the buyout without naming Brin, saying the investor “was willing to accept six cents on the dollar on their original equity investment to divest itself from the New York City multifamily sector.“
Sergey Brin’s $79 million stake unwound at a fraction of its value
Public records don’t show how much Brin originally put in or what A&E paid to take the shares back. What’s known is that the gross value of his stake in the properties sat at roughly $79 million. That’s pocket change for a man worth around $268 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, but the near-total wipeout says plenty about where institutional money sees the sector heading.The timing is hard to miss. Brin sold last year, after Mamdani won the mayoralty on a campaign built around a rent freeze. On Thursday, the city’s Rent Guidelines Board voted 7-1 to freeze increases on roughly one million rent-stabilized apartments, delivering one of Mamdani’s signature promises to a room full of cheering supporters.
Why NYC landlords say the math stopped working
A&E’s troubles started well before Mamdani took office. Like many owners, it got squeezed by 2019 state legislation that limited rent increases, then by pandemic-era difficulties collecting payments as borrowing costs and insurance premiums climbed. The firm has faced foreclosure on dozens of buildings and lawsuits from tenant activists and city lawyers over conditions including mold and bedbugs.The numbers, by A&E’s own account, are bleak. Operating expenses jumped more than 78% over the past decade, far outpacing rent growth, and the firm is carrying $84 million in unpaid rent. “Institutional capital—both equity investors and lenders—are fleeing New York City’s rent stabilized apartment sector,” an A&E spokesperson told Bloomberg, calling the city “a doom loop.”
NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani’s freeze cheers tenants, alarms the real estate industry
For tenants, the freeze is relief; for owners, it may be a breaking point. Critics warn it could push up costs for market-rate renters and nudge landlords toward selling or neglecting their buildings. Legal challenges are widely expected.Brin wasn’t A&E’s only investor to take a hit. The University of California wrote down a $115 million investment in the fund by 50% last year. Mamdani himself has clashed with A&E, blasting it in January for “overt cruelty” to tenants and pointing to thousands of alleged violations.The exit also fits a pattern for Brin, who earlier moved 15 LLCs out of California to dodge a proposed billionaire tax. For now, his New York chapter appears closed—sold off at a loss most investors would rather forget.
