Google, the online search engine we all use on a day-to-day basis, is a well-known term in our society. Without any hesitation, we open our browsers and access Google.
But, have you ever wondered how this search giant got started? Who are the two founders of Google? When was this company established? The answers to these questions are diverse and interesting.
Let’s discover who actually invented Google and when, as well as how it has turned into the largest and most important site on the internet. Dive in with us!
Who are the Founders of Google?
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google, Inc. at Stanford University. They wanted to create a tool that would deliver better search relevant results to readers, besting existing search engines line Yahoo!, and Excite.com.
They modeled their idea on academic papers, which use citations as a sign of authority. Their version for Google used backlinks. This led to PageRank, which became the backbone of the company’s flagship product, Google Search.
Scott Hassan, the lead programmer who wrote a large portion of the code for the first Google Search engine, initially served as an unofficial “third founder” of the project. Thus, Hassan is a part of the conversation when discussing who founded Google. However, he quit before Google formally incorporated as a company.
A fun fact is that Hassan spent $800 for 160,000 Google shares in 1998. As of 2021, these shares would be worth more than $13 billion!
In Google’s initial funding round in 1998, Page and Brin raised around $1 million from friends, family, and angel investors, like Jeff Bezos of Amazon.
Google was initially named BackRub because it searched websites based on backlinks (links pointing to other sites). This led to the creation of Google AdWords, which allows businesses to advertise on Google.
Google got its name from the word “googol,” which means the number 1 followed by 100 zeros and is derived from Edward Kasner and James Newman’s book, Mathematics and the Imagination. The name Google, according to its founders, refers to the vast amount of data that a search engine must go through.
In 2004, Google went public with its initial public offering (IPO), and in 2015, its newly formed parent company, Alphabet, started trading. Alphabet comprises Google, Nest, Calisco, and other companies.
Since its launch, Google has become one of the largest companies in the world. Today, Google generates over $250 billion in annual revenue. In addition, Google owns over 90% of the global search market.
The market capitalization of Alphabet (Google) as of November 2022 is $1.264 trillion. As a result, Alphabet (Google) is now the fourth-most valuable firm in the world. Not to mention, Google’s founders (who actually invented the search engine) are billionaires too.
Notably, Alphabet pays Page and Brin a $1 annual salary (yep, one dollar). However, the value of their company shares is where they get their wealth.
Who Actually Invented Google?
Larry Page
Page was born in 1973 and grew up in Michigan. He attended Stanford University, receiving a Master of Science in computer science.
Since its inception, he has held the position of CEO at Google (and later Alphabet) until he stepped down as CEO to focus on projects outside of Google.
- Page and Brin created Google’s PageRank algorithm, which runs the search engine. However, when Google applied for and was granted a patent for the PageRank invention in 2001, Page was credited as the inventor.
- Eric Schmidt succeeded Page as CEO in 2001. From 2011 to 2015, Page served as CEO of Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
- Larry Page is still a board member and one of the company’s controlling shareholders after leaving his position as Alphabet’s CEO in December 2019.
- In addition to funding the “flying car” startups, Opener and Kitty Hawk, he is a founder investor in the space exploration company, Planetary Resources.
- According to Forbes, Larry Page has a net worth of $111 billion, making him the 6th-richest person in the world as of November 2022.
Sergey Brin
Brin was born in 1973 in Moscow, Soviet Union. He and his family emigrated to the United States in 1979, where they settled in Maryland. He later attended Stanford University, where he met Larry Page, and received his Master of Science in computer science.
Brin served as Google’s President since the company’s inception and later stepped down in 2019.
- In December 2019, Sergey Brin resigned as Alphabet’s President. However, he continues to serve on the board and as a controlling shareholder.
- For most of 2019, Brin missed out on Alphabet’s public events since he was working on the company’s moonshot research lab X.
- Currently, Brin is investing in a high-tech airship project.
- Forbes has listed Sergey Brin as the 7th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $107 billion.
Who is the CEO of Google Now?
Eric Schmidt
Schmidt was born in 1955 and grew up in Italy. After attending the University of California, Berkeley, he held many IT positions at various companies. From 2001-2004, he served on Apple’s board of directors.
In 2001, he joined Google as its CEO and joined the company’s board of directors. After leaving Google in 2011, he continued as a technical advisor of Alphabet, eventually resigning from the company in 2020.
Sundar Pichai
As of November 2022, Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Google (Alphabet).
Pichai was born in India in 1972. He moved to the United States to attend school, where he graduated from Stanford University with a Master of Science in materials science and engineering.
After graduating, he began working for various companies, including McKinsey & Company. He later joined Google in 2004 and worked his way up through the ranks, becoming CEO in 2019.
When Was Google Founded?
Google was founded in 1998 and is currently headquartered in Mountain View, California. Google is an integral part of modern life and grew out of a dorm room at Stanford University. It has billions of users and is often referred to as the “world’s information engine.”
Google has a market capitalization of $1.264 trillion (as of November 2022), making it the world’s 4th-largest publicly traded company. In addition, Google is currently the third most valuable brand in the world, behind Apple and Amazon, with a brand value of about $263.43 billion.
Fast Facts About Google
- In October 2022, Google.com received nearly 95.7 billion monthly visits, making it the most visited website in the world.
- Google dominates the world’s search engine market share with 92.37%, followed by Microsoft’s Bing (3.57%) and Yahoo (1.31%).
- As of November 2022, Google processes more than 40,000 search requests every second on average, amounting to more than 3.5 billion searches daily and 1.2 trillion searches annually worldwide.
- In 0.2 seconds, one Google search employs 1,000 computers to return results.
- Every query must travel 1,500 miles to a data center before returning to the user with an answer.
- In September 1998, Google launched with ten thousand searches per day.
- Approximately 16% to 20% of the daily searches are new and original.
- Google processes over 85 billion searches a day on average.
- According to data published by SEMrush, the most searched keyword on Google is “Facebook,” followed by “YouTube,” “Amazon,” and “wordle.” The top four Google searches comprise a total of more than 150 million searches.
- Google’s business model includes Google Ads, Google Cloud, hardware, Google Playstore, YouTube premium content, and YouTube TV. However, its primary source of revenue comes from search-related advertising, which allows Google to remain free for its users.
- The most recent financial reports (Q3 2022) from Alphabet (Google) reveal the company’s current revenue (TTM) is $282.11 billion. $54.5 billion of the revenue comes from Google advertising.
- Google’s (Alphabet) motto is “Do the right thing.”
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