Global InformationGoogle information
 The Google logo used since 2015 | |
 Google's headquarters, the Googleplex | |
| Formerly | Google Inc. (1998–2017) |
|---|---|
| Type | Subsidiary (LLC) |
| Industry |
|
| Founded | September 4, 1998[a] in Menlo Park, California, United States |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California , U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Sundar Pichai (CEO) Ruth Porat (CFO) Thomas Kurian (CEO of Google Cloud) |
| Products | Workspace Android YouTube Waze Pixel Nest Full list |
Number of employees | 139,995 (2021)  |
| Parent | Alphabet Inc. |
| Website | about.google google.com |
| Footnotes / references [5][6][7][8] | |
Google LLC (/ˈɡuːɡəl/ (
listen)) is an American multinational technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence,[9] and consumer electronics. It has often been referred to as "the most powerful company in the world"[10] and one of the world's most valuable brands due to its market dominance, data collection, and technological advantages in the area of artificial intelligence.[11][12][13] Its parent company Alphabet is considered one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.
Google was founded on September 4, 1998, by computer scientists Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were PhD students at Stanford University in 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.[14]
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 browsing (Chrome), video sharing (YouTube), productivity (Workspace), operating systems (Android), cloud storage (Drive), language translation (Translate), photo storage (Photos), video calling (Meet), smart home (Nest), smartphones (Pixel), wearable technology (Pixel Watch & Fitbit), music streaming (YouTube Music), video on demand (YouTube TV), artificial intelligence (Google Assistant), machine learning APIs (TensorFlow), AI chips (TPU), and more. Discontinued Google products include gaming (Stadia), Glass, Google+, Reader, Play Music, Nexus, Hangouts, and Inbox by Gmail.[15][16]
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 Brain).[17]
Google and YouTube are the two most visited websites worldwide followed by Facebook and Twitter. Google is also the largest search engine, mapping and navigation application, email provider, office suite, video sharing platform, photo and cloud storage provider, mobile operating system, web browser, ML 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[18] and fourth by Interbrand.[19] It has received significant criticism involving issues such as privacy concerns, tax avoidance, censorship, search neutrality, antitrust and abuse of its monopoly position.
- ^ Fitzpatrick, Alex (September 4, 2014). "Google Used to Be the Company That Did 'Nothing But Search'". Time.
- ^ "When is Google's birthday – and why are people confused?". The Telegraph. September 27, 2019. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022.
- ^ Griffin, Andrew (September 27, 2019). "Google birthday: The one big problem with the company's celebratory doodle". The Independent.
- ^ Wray, Richard (September 5, 2008). "Happy birthday Google". The Guardian.
- ^ "Company – Google". January 16, 2015. Archived from the original on January 16, 2015. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
- ^ Claburn, Thomas (September 24, 2008). "Google Founded By Sergey Brin, Larry Page... And Hubert Chang?!?". InformationWeek. UBM plc. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
- ^ "Locations— Google Jobs". Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Condon, Stephanie (May 7, 2019). "Google I/O: From 'AI first' to AI working for everyone". ZDNet. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Jack, Simon (November 21, 2017). "Google - powerful and responsible?". BBC News. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ McCormick, Rich (June 2, 2016). "Elon Musk: There's only one AI company that worries me". The Verge. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Justice Department Sues Monopolist Google For Violating Antitrust Laws". www.justice.gov. October 20, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Land of the Giants: The Titans of Tech | CNN+". plus.cnn.com. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- ^ Feiner, Lauren (December 3, 2019). "Larry Page steps down as CEO of Alphabet, Sundar Pichai to take over". CNBC. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Brady, Heather; Kirk, Chris (March 15, 2013). "The Google Graveyard". Slate. Archived from the original on March 16, 2013. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
- ^ Booker, Logan (March 17, 2013). "Google Graveyard Does Exist". gizmodo. Gizmodo. Archived from the original on May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
- ^ "Inside X, Google's top-secret moonshot factory". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
- ^ Swant, Marty. "THE WORLD'S VALUABLE BRANDS". Forbes. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "BEST GLOBAL BRANDS". Interbrand. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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