Google is one of the best-known and beloved companies in the world. Their official mission statement is as follows:

History and Trivia

  • In the beginning, desks were made of wooden doors and sawhorses. Some are still used by the engineering group.
  • The first round of venture capital, $25 million, was provided by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Sequoia also funded YouTube with $8 million before it was purchased by Google.
  • The first non-engineering Google employee was Omid Kordestani, who started in sales in May 1999. Omid still works for Google today as the Senior V.P. of Global Sales & Business Development.

Maps, Earth, Videos, Search, and Other Services

Google is primarily known around the world as an internet search engine. Additionally, Google provides a huge suite of internet products and services. Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Videos, Google Images, Gmail, Google News, Google Phone, Google Calendar, Google Groups, Google Translate, and Google Books are the internet-based services that make Google the most popular global website.

Google, YouTube, and Blogger

In 2006 Google made a high-profile purchase of the YouTube website, which, at the time, was less than two years old and unprofitable. By 2008, comScore, Inc. was reported that nearly 100 million unique users were visiting YouTube.com every month, each viewing an average of 55 videos.

Another stand-alone Google-owned and operated website is the “Blogger.com” site. The ninth most popular global website, Blogger was made possible by Google’s purchase of Pyra Labs and Genius Labs in 2003.

Alternatives

Google dominates the internet search engine game, with nearly 75% market share in 2018. The next largest search engines are Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and Ask. Yahoo owns search engines AltaVista, All the Web, and Overture.

Other popular Google alternatives search engines include Excite, Netscape, GoTo, DogPile, Direct Hit, Go, HotBot, iWon, and Raging Search.

Retail Products and Services

The retail part of the Google business is found in the Google Store, which is filled with Google logo merchandise like solar-powered pedometers, slinkies, baby blankets, and denim pencils. This retail outlet is a minute part of the Google business, which is primarily focused on products and services that are internet-based, free to the end-user, and supported by advertising revenue.

Founders

Google was started by founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Sergey and Larry met at Stanford University where they invented a search engine for the school’s computer system.

When Did Google Become a Company?

Google filed official incorporation papers in California, September 4, 1998. Before the official corporation, Larry and Sergey had met at Stanford, collaborated on a search engine for the college’s servers called “BackRub,” decided to develop the search engine further, renamed their creation “Google,” got their first $100,000 investment check, and set up an office in a garage in Menlo Park.

Meaning of the Name

The name “Google” was inspired by the mathematical term, “googol.” This is the name that was given to the number “1,” followed by 100 zeros by Milton Sirotta when he was 9 years old. Milton’s uncle was mathematician Edward Kasner, who helped popularize the term in his book, “Mathematics and Imagination.”

Sergey and Larry chose to name their search engine “Google” as a variation of this mathematical term because it related to the enormity of the task of organizing the immense amount of information that was available on the internet.

Google’s First Employee

Craig Silverstein, a fellow Stanford computer science grad student, was hired to help build what is now the world’s largest search engine. Craig is currently Google’s technology director. He told the San Francisco Chronicle, “We need to make [the] search as good as a human answering a search request. We need to be like the computer on ‘Star Trek,’ and we are very, very far from that.”

Philosophy and Quotations

Employment and Workplace

Google’s workplace amenities are known by many and duplicated by few. In order to help employees maintain a healthy work-life balance, Google provides these benefits onsite to its employees.

  • Workout room with weights and rowing machineLocker roomsWashers and dryersMassage roomAssorted video gamesFoosballBaby grand pianoPool tablePing pongRoller hockey twice a week in the company parking lotSnack Rooms with free snacks foods, fruit, and beveragesFree breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the employee cafe.

Google Global Offices

Google has office locations around the world. Some of those office locations are listed below.

  • Google Amsterdam, NetherlandsGoogle Bangalore, IndiaGoogle Beijing, ChinaGoogle Budapest, HungaryGoogle Buenos Aires, ArgentinaGoogle Copenhagen, DenmarkGoogle Dublin, IrelandGoogle Hamburg, GermanyGoogle Helsinki, FinlandGoogle Hong Kong, Causeway Bay, Hong KongGoogle Hyderabad, IndiaGoogle Italy, Milan, ItalyGoogle Japan, Tokyo, JapanGoogle Krakow, PolandGoogle London, United KingdomGoogle Lulea, SwedenGoogle Madrid, SpainGoogle Manchester, United KingdomGoogle Melbourne, Victoria, AustraliaGoogle Mexico, Mexico City, MexicoGoogle Montreal, Quebec, CanadaGoogle Moscow, Russian FederationGoogle Mumbai, IndiaGoogle Oslo, NorwayGoogle Paris, FranceGoogle Prague, Czech RepublicGoogle Sao Paulo, BrazilGoogle Seoul, South KoreaGoogle Shanghai, ChinaGoogle Singapore, SingaporeGoogle Stockholm, SwedenGoogle Sydney, New South Wales, AustraliaGoogle Taipei, TaiwanGoogle Toronto, Ontario, CanadaGoogle Waterloo, Ontario, CanadaGoogle Wroclaw, PolandGoogle Zurich, Switzerland