Eric Schmidt, the 70-year-old billionaire and former Google CEO, is romantically linked to a model more than four decades his junior — the New York–based daughter of Bavaria’s powerful minister-president, according to a report.
Gloria-Sophie Burkandt, 27, who is believed to be working on her PhD thesis in the Big Apple, was seen alongside Schmidt at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, according to German daily Bild.
“Who is the woman Eric Schmidt (70) has fallen in love with?” read a Bild headline, which ran a photo of Burkandt wearing a dirndl — traditional Bavarian dress typically worn at Oktoberfest and other folk festivals.
“Who is the woman who appeared at the side of tech billionaire Eric Schmidt and is now captivating all of America?” the outlet wrote.
A rep for Schmidt declined to comment.
Burkandt was not immediately available for comment.
A source close to the former Google boss told The Post that while Burkandt was part of Schmidt’s entourage in Davos, “this is just a friendship, not a relationship.”
“Gloria-Sophie Burkandt, the daughter of Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder, is far more than a friend of the former Google CEO,” Bild reported, adding that she has “an impressive background as an economist, model, and author.”
The German tabloid noted that Burkandt splits her time between New York, Los Angeles and Germany, moving comfortably in elite political, business and cultural circles.
Property records obtained by The Post indicate that Burkandt is residing in a luxury rental apartment tower in Midtown South.
Burkandt completed undergraduate studies in business management and economics and later earned a master’s degree in business management, according to published reports. She has been splitting her time between the US and Germany.
Her international modeling résumé includes appearances in Vogue Turkey.
Burkandt has also written for Teen Vogue, including a December 2022 article in which she said she had “experienced sexual harassment, assault and sexual coercion in my private and professional life.”
According to Burkandt, she was “touched inappropriately by my boss” while working as an 18-year-old intern. She wrote that the supervisor “would put his hands on my shoulders and waist when we’d run into each other in the elevator or kitchen.”
Burkandt previously drew headlines in Germany after appearing on the televised game show “Germany’s Dumbest Celebrity,” where she struggled with basic spelling and general-knowledge questions — including failing to identify former chancellor Helmut Kohl.
Her appearance sparked a wave of schadenfreude-fueled coverage in the German press, according to a profile last year in The Times of London.
Schmidt, who stepped down as Google’s chief executive in 2011, has long been a fixture in New York’s elite social and dating circles despite remaining married to his wife of more than four decades, Wendy Schmidt.
As of Monday, Schmidt had a net worth valued by Bloomberg Billionaires Index at $54.6 billion.
The billionaire philanthropist and former tech executive has been widely described as having an open marriage, an arrangement neither he nor his wife has publicly confirmed but one that has been repeatedly cited in media reports over the years.
Schmidt’s personal life has periodically spilled into public view through a string of high-profile relationships, several of which ended acrimoniously and, in some cases, with legal fallout.
In recent years, Schmidt was involved in a prolonged and turbulent relationship with entrepreneur Michelle Ritter, a former associate with whom he also had business dealings.
That relationship unraveled amid a barrage of lawsuits filed by Ritter, accusing Schmidt of misconduct and financial improprieties — allegations he has denied. The litigation remains ongoing.
Prior relationships have also drawn scrutiny.
Schmidt was previously linked to former Olympic figure skater Alexandra Duisberg, with whom he was photographed traveling internationally, and to several women in finance, media and the arts, many decades younger than the tech mogul.
Credit: Source link
