Google is a globally recognized technology[3] company, primarily known for its search engine[1]. Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company has grown vastly, diversifying into various tech-related sectors. Google provides a broad spectrum of products and services, including Gmail[5], Maps, Cloud, YouTube[4], and Android. It also produces hardware like Pixel smartphones and Chromebooks. The company, now a part of Alphabet Inc.[2] since 2015, is renowned for its innovation and workplace culture, encouraging employees to work on personal projects. Despite facing various legal and ethical issues, Google continues to impact the tech industry with its innovations and technical advancements, such as the development of Android OS and the acquisition of AI-focused companies.
Google LLC (/ˈɡuːɡəl/ ⓘ, GOO-ghəl) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial intelligence (AI). It has been referred to as "the most powerful company in the world" and as one of the world's most valuable brands due to its market dominance, data collection, and technological advantages in the field of AI. Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc. is one of the five Big Tech companies, alongside Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.
Formerly | Google Inc. (1998-2017) |
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Company type | Subsidiary |
NASDAQ: GOOGL, GOOG | |
Industry | |
Founded | September 4, 1998Menlo Park, California, United States | at
Founders | |
Headquarters | Googleplex,, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | |
Products | |
Number of employees | 139,995 (2021) |
Parent | Alphabet Inc. |
Subsidiaries | |
ASN | |
Website | about |
Footnotes / references |
Google was founded on September 4, 1998, by American computer scientists Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were PhD students at Stanford University at California. Together, they own about 14% of its publicly listed shares and control 56% of its stockholder voting power through super-voting stock. The company went public via an initial public offering (IPO) in 2004. In 2015, Google was reorganized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Google is Alphabet's largest subsidiary and is a holding company for Alphabet's internet properties and interests. Sundar Pichai was appointed CEO of Google on October 24, 2015, replacing Larry Page, who became the CEO of Alphabet. On December 3, 2019, Pichai also became the CEO of Alphabet.
The company has since rapidly grown to offer a multitude of products and services beyond Google Search, many of which hold dominant market positions. These products address a wide range of use cases, including email (Gmail), navigation (Waze & Maps), cloud computing (Cloud), web navigation (Chrome), video sharing (YouTube), productivity (Workspace), operating systems (Android), cloud storage (Drive), language translation (Translate), photo storage (Photos), video telephony (Meet), smart home (Nest), smartphones (Pixel), wearable technology (Pixel Watch & Fitbit), music streaming (YouTube Music), video on demand (YouTube TV), AI (Google Assistant & Gemini), machine learning APIs (TensorFlow), AI chips (TPU), and more. Discontinued Google products include gaming (Stages), Glass, Google+, Reader, Play Music, Nexus, Hangouts, and Inbox by Gmail.
Google's other ventures outside of internet services and consumer electronics include quantum computing (Sycamore), self-driving cars (Waymo, formerly the Google Self-Driving Car Project), smart cities (Sidewalk Labs), and transformer models (Google DeepMind).
Google and YouTube are the two most-visited websites worldwide followed by Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter). Google is also the largest search engine, mapping and navigation application, email provider, office suite, online video platform, photo and cloud storage provider, mobile operating system, web browser, machine learning framework, and AI virtual assistant provider in the world as measured by market share. On the list of most valuable brands, Google is ranked second by Forbes and fourth by Interbrand. It has received significant criticism involving issues such as privacy concerns, tax avoidance, censorship, search neutrality, antitrust and abuse of its monopoly position.