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Google Inc.
Company typePublic (Nasdaq: GOOG), (LSE: GGEA)
IndustryInternet, Computer software
FoundedUnited States Menlo Park, California (September 27 1998)
FounderLarry Page
Sergey Brin Edit this on Wikidata
Headquarters
Mountain View, California
,
USA
Key people
Eric E. Schmidt, CEO/Director
Sergey Brin, Co-Founder, Technology President
Larry E. Page, Co-Founder, Products President
George Reyes, CFO
ProductsSee list of Google products
RevenueIncrease10.604 Billion USD (2006)[1]
Increase3.077 Billion USD (2006)[1]
Number of employees
12,238 (March 31 2007)
Websitewww.google.com

Google Inc (Nasdaq: GOOG and LSE: GGEA) is an American public corporation, specializing in Internet searching and online advertising. The company is based in Mountain View, California, and has 12,238 full-time employees (as of March 31, 2007).[2] Google's mission statement is, "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."[3] Google's corporate philosophy includes statements such as "Don't be evil", and "Work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun", illustrating a somewhat relaxed corporate culture.

Google was co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were students at Stanford University and the company was first incorporated as a privately held company on September 7, 1998. Google's initial public offering took place on August 19, 2004, raising $1.67 billion, making it worth $23 billion. Through a series of new product developments, acquisitions and partnerships, the company has expanded its initial search and advertising business into other areas, including web-based email, online mapping, office productivity, and video sharing, among others.

Like most large corporations, Google's businesses have drawn some controversy, such as copyright disputes in its book search project, or censorship by Google of search results as it works with countries such as China (and to a lesser extent France, Germany), which have laws requiring the company hide information from Google users in their country. Additionally, in the post September 11 era, several governments and militaries have raised concerns about the national security risks posed by vivid geographic details provided by Google Earth's satellite imaging.


Products

Main article: List of Google products

Google has created services and tools for the general public and business environment alike; including Web applications, advertising networks and solutions for businesses.

Advertising

Most of Google's revenue is derived from its online advertising programs.[4] Google AdWords allows Web advertisers to display advertisements in Google's search results and the Google Content Network, through either a cost-per-click or cost-per-view scheme. Google AdSense website owners can also display adverts on their own site, and earn money every time ads are clicked.

Applications

Google is well-known for its web search service, which is a major factor of the company's success. As of December 2006, Google is the most used search engine on the web with a 50.8% market share, ahead of Yahoo! (23.6%) and Windows Live Search (8.4%).[5] Google indexes billions of Web pages, so that users can search for the information they desire, through the use of keywords and operators. Google has also employed the Web Search technology into other search services, including Image Search, Google News, the price comparison site Google Product Search, the interactive Usenet archive Google Groups, Google Maps and more.

In 2004, Google launched its own free web-based email service, known as Gmail.[6] Gmail features spam filtering technology and the capability to use Google technology to search email. The service generates revenue by displaying advertisements from the AdWords service that are tailored to the content of the email messages displayed on screen.

In early 2006, the company launched Google Video, which not only allows users to search and view freely available videos, but also offers users and media publishers the ability to publish their content, including television shows on CBS, NBA basketball games, and music videos.[7]

Google has also developed several desktop applications, including Google Earth, an interactive mapping program powered by satellite imagery that covers the vast majority of the earth. Google Earth is generally considered to be remarkably accurate and extremely detailed. For example, some major cities (Las Vegas, NV, USA for example) have such detailed images that one can zoom in close enough to read the license plates on cars on a street. Consequently, there have been some concerns about national security implications. Specifically, some countries and militaries contend the software can be used to pinpoint with near-precision accuracy the physical location of critical infrastructure, commercial and residential buildings, bases, government agencies, and so on. However, the satellite images are not necessarily frequently updated, and all of them are available at no charge through other products and even government sources (NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, for example.) Some counter this argument by stating that Google Earth makes it easier to access and research the images.

Many other products are available through Google Labs, which is a collection of incomplete applications that are still being tested for use by the general public.

Google has promoted their products in various ways. In London, Google Space was set-up in Heathrow Airport, showcasing several products, including Gmail, Google Earth and Picasa.[8][9] Also, a similar page was launched for American college students, under the name College Life, Powered by Google.[10]

In 2007, some reports surfaced that Google was planning the release of its own mobile phone, possibly a competitor to Apple's iPhone.[11][12][13] The project may be a collaboration between Google and Orange, HTC, Samsung, or another manufacturer. However, very little is known about the project and most of the information available is speculation.

Enterprise products

In 2007, Google launched Google Apps Premium Edition, a software suite for businesses that provides e-mail, instant messaging, calendar, word processing, as well as a spreadsheet program.[14] This product is targeted primarily at the business user, and intended to compete directly versus Microsoft's Office suite, with a price of approximately USD50 per user per year compared to USD500 per user for Microsoft Office.[14] A large implementation of Google Apps with 38,000 users is at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.[15]

Platform

Main article: Google platform

Google's services are run on several server farms, each consisting of thousands of low-cost commodity computers running stripped-down versions of Linux. While the company does not provide detailed information about its hardware, a 2006 estimate consisted of over 450,000 servers, racked up in clusters located in data centers around the world.[16]

Corporate affairs and culture

File:Googler2-non.jpg
A license plate seen in the Googleplex parking lot.

Google is particularly known for its relaxed corporate culture, reminiscent of the Dot-com boom. In January 2007, it was cited by Fortune Magazine as the #1 (of 100) best company to work for.[17] Google's corporate philosophy is based on many casual principles including, "You can make money without doing evil", "You can be serious without a suit," and "Work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun." A complete list of corporate fundamentals is available on Google's website.[18] Google's relaxed corporate culture can also be seen externally through their holiday variations of the Google logo.

Typical salaries at Google are considered to be quite low by industry standards. For example, some system administrators earn no more than $35,000 per year – considered to be quite low for the Bay Area job market.[19] However, Google's stock performance following its IPO has enabled many early employees to be competitively compensated by participation in the corporation's remarkable equity growth.[20] Google implemented other employee incentives in 2005, such as the Google Founders' Award, in addition to offering higher salaries to new employees. Google's workplace amenities, culture, global popularity, and strong brand recognition have also attracted potential applicants.

After the company's IPO in August 2004, it was reported that founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and CEO Eric Schmidt, requested that their base salary be cut to $1.00.[21] Subsequent offers by the company to increase their salaries have been turned down, primarily because, "their primary compensation continues to come from returns on their ownership stakes in Google. As significant stockholders, their personal wealth is tied directly to sustained stock price appreciation and performance, which provides direct alignment with stockholder interests."[21] Prior to 2004, Schmidt was making $250,000 per year, and Page and Brin each earned a salary of $150,000.[21]

They have all declined recent offers of bonuses and increases in compensation by Google's board of directors. In a 2006 report of the United States' richest people, Forbes reported that Sergey Brin was #12 with a net worth of $14.1 billion, and Larry Page was #13 with a net worth of $14.0 billion.[22]

Googleplex

The Googleplex
Main article: Googleplex

As a play on Google's name, its headquarters, in Mountain View, California, is referred to as "the Googleplex" — a googolplex being 1 followed by a googol of zeros, and the HQ being a complex of buildings (cf. multiplex, cineplex, etc). The lobby is decorated with a piano, lava lamps, old server clusters, and a projection of search queries on the wall. The hallways are full of exercise balls and bicycles. Each employee has access to the corporate recreation center. Recreational amenities are scattered throughout the campus and include a workout room with weights and rowing machines, locker rooms, washers and dryers, a massage room, assorted video games, Foosball, a baby grand piano, a pool table, and ping pong. In addition to the rec room, there are snack rooms stocked with various cereals, gummy bears, toffee, licorice, cashews, yogurt, carrots, fresh fruit, and dozens of different drinks including fresh juice, soda, and make your own cappuccino.

Sign at the Googleplex

In 2006, Google moved into 311,000 square feet of office space in New York City, at 111 Eighth Ave. in Manhattan.[23] The office was specially designed and built for Google and houses its largest advertising sales team, which has been instrumental in securing large partnerships, most recently deals with MySpace and AOL.[23] In 2003, they added an engineering staff in New York City, which has been responsible for more than 100 engineering projects, including Google Maps, Google Spreadsheets, and others.[23] It is estimated that the building costs Google $10 million per year to rent and is similar in design and functionality to its Mountain View headquarters, including Foosball, air hockey, and ping-pong tables, as well as a video game area.[23]

Google is also making steps to insure that their operations are environmentally sound. In October 2006, the company announced plans to install thousands of solar panels to provide up to 1.6 megawatts of electricity, enough to satisfy approximately 30% of the campus' energy needs.[24] The system will be the largest solar power system constructed on a U.S. corporate campus and one of the largest on any corporate site in the world.[24] In June 2007, Google announced that they plan to become carbon neutral by 2008, which includes investing in energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, and purchasing carbon offsets, such as investing in projects like capturing and burning methane from animal waste at Mexican and Brazilian farms.[25]

"Twenty percent" time

All Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their work time (one day per week) on projects that interest them. Some of Google's newer services, such as Gmail, Google News, Orkut, and AdSense originated from these independent endeavors.[26] In a talk at Stanford University, Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, stated that her analysis showed that half of the new product launches originated from the 20% time.[27]

Easter eggs and April Fool's Day jokes

Main article: Google's hoaxes

Google has a tradition of creating April Fool's Day jokes — such as Google MentalPlex, which allegedly featured the use of mental power to search the web.[28] In 2002, they claimed that pigeons were the secret behind their growing search engine.[29] In 2004, they featured Google Lunar (which claimed to feature jobs on the moon),[30] and in 2005, a fictitious brain-boosting drink, termed Google Gulp was announced.[31] In 2006, they came up with Google Romance, a hypothetical online dating service.[32] In 2007, Google announced two joke products. The first was a free wireless Internet service called TiSP (Toilet Internet Service Provider) [33] in which one obtained a connection by flushing one end of a fiber-optic cable down their toilet and waiting only an hour for a "Plumbing Hardware Dispatcher (PHD)" to connect it to the Internet.[33] Additionally, Google's Gmail page displayed an announcement for Gmail Paper, which allows users of their free email service to have email messages printed and shipped to a snail mail address.[34]

Some thought the announcement of Gmail in 2004 around April Fool's Day (as well as the doubling of Gmail's storage space to two gigabytes in 2005) was a joke, although both of these turned out to be genuine announcements. In 2005, a comedic graph depicting Google's goal of "infinity plus one" GB of storage was featured on the Gmail homepage.

Google's services contain a number of Easter eggs; for instance, the Language Tools page offers the search interface in the Swedish Chef's "Bork bork bork," Pig Latin, ”Hacker” (Actually leetspeak), Elmer Fudd, and Klingon.[35] When asked how to get from a location in the U.S. to a location in Europe, Google Maps will provide directions that include an instruction to "Swim across the Atlantic Ocean." [36] In addition, the search engine calculator provides The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything from Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.[37] Google also routinely modifies its logo in accordance with various holidays or special events throughout the year, such as Christmas, Mother's Day, or various birthdays of notable individuals.[38]

IPO and culture

Many people speculated that Google's IPO would inevitably lead to changes in the company's culture,[39] because of shareholder pressure for employee benefit reductions and short-term advances, or because a large number of the company's employees would suddenly become millionaires on paper. In a report given to potential investors, co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page promised that the IPO would not change the company's culture.[40] Later Mr. Page said, "We think a lot about how to maintain our culture and the fun elements. We spent a lot of time getting our offices right. We think it's important to have a high density of people. People are packed together everywhere. We all share offices. We like this set of buildings because it's more like a densely packed university campus than a typical suburban office park."[41]

However, many analysts are finding that as Google grows the company is becoming more "corporate". In 2005, articles in The New York Times and other sources began suggesting that Google had lost its anti-corporate, no evil philosophy.[42][43] In an effort to maintain the company's unique culture, Google has designated a Chief Culture Officer in 2006, who also serves as the Director of Human Resources. The purpose of the Chief Culture Officer is to develop and maintain the culture and work on ways to keep true to the core values that the company was founded on in the beginning — a flat organization, a lack of hierarchy, a collaborative environment.[44]

Criticism

Main article: Criticism of Google

As it has grown, Google has found itself the focus of several controversies related to its business practices and services. For example, Google Book Search's effort to digitize millions of books and make the full text searchable has led to copyright disputes with the Authors Guild. Google's cooperation with the governments of China, and to a lesser extent France and Germany (regarding Holocaust denial) to filter search results in accordance to regional laws and regulations has led to claims of censorship. Google's persistent cookie and other information collection practices have led to concerns over user privacy. A number of governments have raised concerns about the security risks posed by geographic details provided by Google Earth's satellite imaging.[45] Google has also been criticized by advertisers regarding its inability to combat click fraud, when a person or automated script is used to generate a charge on an advertisement without really having an interest in the product. Industry reports in 2006 claim that approximately 14 to 20 percent of clicks were in fact fraudulent or invalid.[46]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Financial Tables. Google Investor Relations. Retrieved on February 23 2007.
  2. ^ "Google Announces First Quarter 2007 Results." April 19, 2007. Retrieved on April 22, 2007.
  3. ^ "Google Corporate Information: Company Overview." Google. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
  4. ^ Claburn, Thomas. "Google Revenue Doubles." Information Week. October 20, 2005. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
  5. ^ Bausch, Suzy. "Nielsen//NetRatings Announces December U.S. Search Share Rankings." Market Wire. January 23, 2007. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
  6. ^ Staff Writer. "Google + e-mail = gmail." CNN. August 1, 2004. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
  7. ^ Tyler, Nathan. "Google to Launch Video Marketplace." Google. January 6, 2006. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
  8. ^ "Googlespace Website." Google. Retrieved on February 26, 2007.
  9. ^ Donoghue, Andrew. "Google turns Heathrow into testing lab." ZDNet. November 24, 2005. Retrieved on February 25, 2007.
  10. ^ "College Life, Powered by Google Website." Retrieved on February 25, 2007.
  11. ^ Orlowski, Andrew. "Google Phone - it's for real." The Register. March 16, 2007. Retrieved on April 1, 2007.
  12. ^ Smith, David. "The future for Orange could soon be Google in your pocket." The Guardian. December 17, 2006. Retrieved on April 1 2007.
  13. ^ Ricker, Thomas. "The Google Switch: an iPhone killer?." Engadget. January 18, 2007. Retrieved on April 1, 2007.
  14. ^ a b Graham, Jefferson. "Google goes after Microsoft with software suite." USA Today. February 22, 2007. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
  15. ^ Rickwood, Lee. "Google Apps: Killer software or killer decision?." [PCWorld.ca]. March 23, 2007. Retrieved on March 25, 2007.
  16. ^ Carr, David F. "How Google Works." Baseline Magazine. July 6, 2006. Retrieved on July 10, 2006.
  17. ^ "100 Best Companies to Work For 2007." Fortune Magazine (link published by CNN). January 22, 2007. Retrieved on January 8, 2007.
  18. ^ "Google Corporate Philosophy." Google. Retrieved on August 31, 2006.
  19. ^ Penenberg, Adam L. "Why Google Is Like Wal-Mart." Wired. April 21, 2005. Retrieved on February 25, 2007.
  20. ^ Shinal, John. "Google IPO achieved its major goal: It's all about raising cash for the company and rewarding employees, early investors." San Francisco Chronicle. August 22, 2004. Retrieved on February 25 2007.
  21. ^ a b c La Monica, Paul R. "Google leaders stick with $1 salary." CNN. March 31, 2006. Retrieved on February 28, 2007.
  22. ^ Miller, Matthew; Serafin, Tatiana. "The 400 Richest Americans." Forbes. September 21, 2006. Retrieved on November 26, 2006.
  23. ^ a b c d Reardon, Marguerite. "Google takes a bigger bite of Big Apple." c net. October 2, 2006. Retrieved on October 9, 2006.
  24. ^ a b Richmond, Riva. "Google plans to build huge solar energy system for headquarters." MarketWatch. October 17, 2006. Retrieved on October 17, 2006.
  25. ^ Staff Writer. "Google To Go Carbon Neutral By 2008." Environmental Leader. June 19, 2007. Retrieved on July 10, 2007.
  26. ^ "What's it like to work in Engineering, Operations, & IT?." Google. Retrieved on August 2, 2006.
  27. ^ Mayer, Marissa. "MS&E 472 Course: Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar Series." (video link; an audio podcast is also available in MP3 format). ETL Seminar Series/Stanford University. May 17, 2006. Retrieved on August 2, 2006.
  28. ^ "Google MentalPlex." Google. April 1, 2000. Retrieved on February 22, 2007.
  29. ^ "The technology behind Google's great results." Google. April 1, 2002. Retrieved on February 22, 2007.
  30. ^ "Google Copernicus Center is hiring." Google. April 1, 2004. Retrieved on February 22, 2007.
  31. ^ "Quench your thirst for knowledge." Google. April 1, 2005. Retrieved on February 22, 2007.
  32. ^ Fox, Lynn. "Google to Organize World's Courtship Information with Google Romance." Google. April 1, 2006. Retrieved on February 22, 2007.
  33. ^ a b "Welcome to Google TiSP." Google. April 1, 2007. Retrieved on April 1, 2007.
  34. ^ "Gmail Paper." Google. April 1, 2007. Retrieved on April 1, 2007.
  35. ^ "Language Tools." Google. Retrieved on January 24, 2007.
  36. ^ "Google Maps." Google. Retrieved on May 2, 2007.
  37. ^ "Google Search Results for 'answer to life the universe and everything'." Google. Retrieved on January 24, 2007.
  38. ^ "Holiday logos." Google. Retrieved on May 21, 2007.
  39. ^ Associated Press. "Quirky Google Culture Endangered?" Wired Magazine. April 28, 2004.
  40. ^ Baertlein, Lisa. "Google IPO at $2.7 billion." CIOL IT Unlimited. April 30, 2004.
  41. ^ Vise, David A. "Tactics of 'Google Guys' Test IPO Law's Limits." Washington Post. August 17, 2004. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
  42. ^ Rivlin, Gary. "Relax, Bill Gates; It's Google's Turn as the Villain." New York Times. August 24, 2005.
  43. ^ Gibson, Owen; Wray, Richard. "Search giant may outgrow its fans." The Sydney Morning Herald. August 25, 2005.
  44. ^ Mills, Elinor. "Meet Google's culture czar." ZDNet. April 30, 2007. Retrieved on April 30, 2007.
  45. ^ Sharma, Dinesh C. "Indian president warns against Google Earth." c net. October 17, 2005. Retrieved on July 23, 2006.
  46. ^ Mills, Elinor. "Google to offer advertisers click fraud stats." c net. July 25, 2006. Retrieved on July 29, 2006.

Further reading

  • David Vise and Mark Malseed (2005-11-15). The Google Story. Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-553-80457-X. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • John Battelle (2005-09-08). The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture. Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN 1-59184-088-0. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)


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