Google is an American multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products, including online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, software, and hardware. It was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University. Google's mission statement is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." The company's rapid growth led to a corporate restructuring in 2015 under the parent company Alphabet Inc., with Google becoming its primary subsidiary.
Google's search engine is the most widely used Web search engine globally, handling over 90% of all search queries as of the 2020s. Beyond search, the company has developed a vast ecosystem of products, including Google Chrome, Android, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, and Google Drive. Its hardware line includes Pixel smartphones, Nest smart home devices, and Pixelbook laptops. The company also leads in artificial intelligence research, with projects like Google Assistant, Google Translate, and DeepMind.
History
Larry Page and Sergey Brin began developing a search algorithm called "BackRub" in 1996, which analyzed backlinks to rank web pages. The name "Google" is a play on the mathematical term "googol," meaning 1 followed by 100 zeros, reflecting their mission to organize vast amounts of information. The domain google.com was registered on September 15, 1997. In 1998, Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim wrote a check for $100,000 to "Google Inc." The company was officially incorporated on September 4, 1998.
The company's first office was a garage in Menlo Park, California. Google quickly gained popularity for its clean interface and relevant search results. In 2000, it introduced Google AdWords, a pay-per-click advertising system that became its primary revenue source. The company went public in 2004 via an unconventional Dutch auction initial public offering, raising $1.67 billion. Subsequent years saw the launch of Gmail (2004), Google Maps (2005), Google Chrome (2008), and the acquisition of Android, Inc. in 2005, which led to the development of the Android mobile operating system.
In 2015, Google restructured under Alphabet Inc., with Page and Brin becoming CEO and President of Alphabet respectively, and Sundar Pichai taking over as Google's CEO. The move separated Google's core businesses from its "moonshot" ventures such as Waymo (self-driving cars), Verily (life sciences), and Google Fiber (broadband internet).
Products and services
- Search and advertising: The core search engine, Google Images, Google News, Google Shopping, and the AdWords/AdSense advertising platforms.
- Software: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drive, Google Photos, Google Meet, Google Chrome, Android, Google Play, Chrome OS, Google Assistant.
- Hardware: Pixel smartphones, Nest thermostats and cameras, Google Chromecast, Google Pixelbook, Google Home smart speakers, Google Pixel Buds.
- Cloud and AI: Google Cloud Platform, Google Workspace, Google AI, DeepMind, Google Translate, Google Lens, Google Bard (later rebranded as Gemini).
- Other: YouTube, Google Maps, Google Earth, Waze, Google Analytics, Google Scholar, Google Books, Google News Archive, Google Street View, Google Flights, Google Wallet, Google Pay.
Criticism and controversies
Google has faced significant criticism over privacy concerns, including data collection practices, tracking of users across websites, and compliance with government surveillance programs such as PRISM revealed by Edward Snowden. The company has also been subject to antitrust investigations in the United States, European Union, and other jurisdictions for alleged monopolistic behavior in search and advertising markets. In 2018, the European Commission fined Google €4.34 billion for abusing its dominant position in the mobile ecosystem via Android licensing practices.
Other controversies include allegations of censorship in China (resulting in the withdrawal of Google's search services in 2010), the handling of misinformation on YouTube, the firing of employees who protested company contracts with the U.S. military and customs enforcement, and the Project Dragonfly attempt to create a censored search engine for China. Google's AI principles, revised in 2018 after an employee backlash, prohibit developing weapons or surveillance technologies that violate international norms.