Jump to content

Google

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 160.9.95.5 (talk) at 10:22, 19 June 2006. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For the search engine produced by this corporation, see Google search; for the underlying technology, see Google platform; for other uses see Google (disambiguation).
Google
Company typePublic (Nasdaq: GOOG) and (LSE: GGEA)
IndustryInternet
FoundedMenlo Park, California (1998)
FounderLarry Page
Sergey Brin Edit this on Wikidata
HeadquartersMountain View, California, USA
Key people
Eric E. Schmidt, CEO/Director
Sergey Brin, Technology President
Larry E. Page, Products President
George Reyes, CFO
ProductsSee list of Google services and tools
RevenueIncrease$7.14 Billion USD (2006)
Increase$1.69 Billion USD (2005)
Number of employees
6,800 (2006)
Websitewww.google.com

Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG and LSE: GGEA) is an American multinational software corporation, first incorporated as a privately held corporation in September, 1998, that specializes in search engine, information retrieval technology and online advertising. With a market capitalization of US$118.32 billion as of June 2006, Google is the largest internet search company in the world, almost twice as large as arch-rival Yahoo![1] The company employs approximately 6,800 employees[2] and is based in Mountain View, California. Eric Schmidt, formerly chief executive officer of Novell, was named Google's CEO when co-founder Larry Page stepped down.

The name "Google" originated from a misspelling of "googol," [3] which refers to 10100(a 1 followed by one-hundred zeros). Google has become well known for its corporate culture and innovative, clean products, and has a major impact on online culture. The verb "to google" has come to mean "to perform a Web search", usually with the Google search engine.

Google's services are run on several server farms, which, in 2004, consisted of over 30 clusters of up to 2,000 PCs per cluster. Each cluster contains one petabyte of data with sustained transfer rates of 2 Gbps. Combined, over four billion web pages, averaging 10 Kb each, have been fully indexed.[4]

History

Main article: History of Google

Beginning

Google began as a research project in January, 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Ph.D. students at Stanford University.[5]

File:1998google.jpg
Google in 1998

They hypothesized that a search engine that analyzed the relationships between websites would produce better results than existing techniques which essentially ranked results according to how many times the search term appeared on a page.[6] It was originally nicknamed "BackRub," because the system checked backlinks to estimate a site's importance.[7] A small search engine called RankDex was already exploring a similar strategy.[8]

Convinced that the pages with the most links to them from other highly relevant web pages must be the most relevant pages associated with the search, Page and Brin tested their thesis as part of their studies, and laid the foundation for their search engine. Originally the search engine used the Stanford University website with the domain google.stanford.edu. The domain google.com was registered on September 15, 1997, and the company was incorporated as Google Inc. on September 7, 1998 at a friend's garage in Menlo Park, California.

In March, 1999, the company moved into offices at 165 University Avenue in Palo Alto, home to several other noted Silicon Valley technology startups. After quickly outgrowing two other sites, the company settled into their current home in a complex of buildings in Mountain View at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, in 2003. Silicon Graphics leased these buildings to Google.

The Google search engine attracted a loyal following among the growing number of Internet users. They were attracted to its simple, uncluttered design — a competitive advantage to attract users who did not wish to enter searches on web pages filled with visual distractions. This appearance, while imitating the early AltaVista, had behind it Google's unique search capabilities. In 2000 Google began selling advertisements associated with the search keyword to produce enhanced search results for the user. This strategy was important for increasing advertising revenue, which is based upon the number of hits users make upon ads. The ads were text-based in order to maintain an uncluttered page design and to maximize page loading speed. Keywords were sold based on a combination of price bid and clickthroughs, with bidding starting at $.05 per click. This model of selling keyword advertising was originally pioneered by Goto.com (later renamed Overture, then Yahoo! Search Marketing).[9] While many of its dot-com rivals failed in the new Internet marketplace, Google quietly rose in stature and generated revenue.

U.S. patent 6,285,999 describing Google's ranking mechanism (PageRank) was granted on September 4 2001. The patent was officially assigned to Stanford University and lists Lawrence Page as the inventor.

Growth

With Google's gargantuan size comes more competition from large mainstream technology companies. One such example is its rivalry with Microsoft.[10] Microsoft has been touting its MSN Search engine, and more recently its Windows Live search in February, 2006, to counter Google's competitive position. Furthermore, the two companies are increasingly offering overlapping services, such as webmail (Googlemail vs. Hotmail), search (both online and local desktop searching), and other applications (for example, Microsoft's Windows Live Local competes with Google Maps).

Click fraud has also become a growing problem for Google's business strategy. Google's CFO George Reyes said in a December 2004 investor conference that "something has to be done about this really, really quickly, because I think, potentially, it threatens our business model."[11] Some have suggested that Google is not doing enough to combat click fraud. Jessie Stricchiola, president of Alchemist Media, called Google, "the most stubborn and the least willing to cooperate with advertisers," when it comes to click fraud.[11]

File:Google screenshot.png
The current Google search page.

On September 28, 2005, Google announced a long-term research partnership with NASA which would involve Google building a 1-million square foot R&D center at NASA's Ames Research Center. NASA and Google are planning to work together on a variety of areas, including large-scale data management, massively distributed computing, bio-info-nano convergence, and encouragement of the entrepreneurial space industry. The new building would also include labs, offices, and housing for Google engineers.[12]

Time Warner's AOL unit and Google unveiled an expanded partnership on December 21, 2005, including an enhanced global advertising partnership and a $1 Billion investment by Google for a 5% stake in AOL.[13] As part of the collaboration, Google plans to work with AOL on video search and offer AOL's premium-video service within Google Video. This will allow users of Google Video to search for AOL's premium-video services. Display advertising throughout the Google network will also increase.

Additionally, Google has also recently formed a partnership with Sun Microsystems to help share and distribute each other's technologies. As part of the partnership Google will hire employees to help in the open source office program OpenOffice.org.[14]

Google has experimented with other markets, such as radio and print publications. On January 17, 2006, Google announced that it had purchased the radio advertising company dMarc, which provides an automated system that allows companies to advertise on the radio.[15] This will allow Google to combine two niche advertising media -- the Internet and radio -- with Google's ability to focus on the tastes of consumers. Google has also begun an experiment in selling advertisements from its advertisers in offline newspapers and magazines, with select advertisements in the Chicago Sun-Times.[16] They have been filling unsold space in the newspaper that would have normally been used for in-house advertisements. The company has also created other engines, such as Google Earth and Froogle.

Google was added to the Standard & Poor's 500 index (S&P 500) on March 31, 2006. Google replaced Burlington Resources, a major oil producer based in Houston which was acquired by ConocoPhillips.

See also: Recent criticisms and controversies

Salaries

Originally, typical salaries at Google were considered to be quite low by industry standards. For example, some system administrators earned no more than $33,000 — while $40,000 at that time was considered to be low for the Bay Area job market. Nevertheless, Google's excellent stock performance following the IPO has enabled these early employees to be competitively compensated by participation in the corporation's remarkable equity growth. In 2005, Google has implemented other employee incentives 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, as well as CEO Eric Schmidt, have accepted a base salary of $1.00. They have all declined recent offers of bonuses and increases in compensation by Google's board of directors. In a 2006 report of the world's richest people, Forbes reported that Sergey Brin was #26 with a net worth of $12.9 Billion, and Larry Page was #27 with a net worth of $12.8 Billion.[17]

Corporate culture

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

Google adopts a relaxed corporate culture, reminiscent of the Dot-com boom. Google's corporate philosophy is based on principles like "You can make money without doing evil" (The sincerity of this so-called corporate philosophy has been arguably marred by Google's participation in the People's Republic of China's Internet censorship program, more commonly known as the Great Firewall of China), "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] The company encourages equality within corporate levels. Twice a week there is a roller hockey game in the company parking lot. Google's relaxed corporate culture can also be seen externally through their holiday variations of the Google logo.

"Twenty percent" time

All Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their work time on projects that interest them. The time can be allocated to one day a week, or pooled into a month. Some of Google's newer services, such as Gmail, Google News and orkut, are said to have originated from these independent endeavors.

Googleplex

Welcome sign to the Googleplex
Main article: Googleplex

As a further play on Google's name, its headquarters, located in California, are 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, and a real-time projection of current search queries. 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.[19]

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 featured the use of mental power to search the web. In 2002, they claimed that pigeons were the secret behind their growing search engine. In 2004, it featured Google Lunar, which featured jobs on the moon, and in 2005, a fictitious brain-boosting drink, termed Google Gulp, was announced. In 2006, they came up with Google Romance. One can find other pranks hidden between Google's pages. Additionally, in the languages list one can find the Bork! Bork! Bork! version, imitating the Muppet Show's Swedish Chef. They also offer versions in Pig Latin, Elmer Fudd, Klingon, and a Leet (or h4x0r) version of Google. Some people 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. In 2005, featured on the Gmail homepage, was a comedic graph depicting Google's goal of "infinity plus one" GB.

IPO and culture

Many people speculated that Google's IPO would inevitably lead to changes in the company's culture,[20] 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.[21] Later Mr. Page said, "We think a lot about how to maintain our culture and the fun elements."

As Google grows, many analysts are finding that 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, Don't Be Evil philosophy.[22][23]

See also

References

  1. ^ Khan, Kim; Blaine, Charley. "Google stock tops $400, worth $117.6 billion." MSN Money. June 9, 2006.
  2. ^ Google Press Center
  3. ^ Koller, David. "Origin of the name, "Google." Stanford University. January, 2004.
  4. ^ Loney, Matt. "The magic that makes Google tick." ZDNet UK. December 1, 2004.
  5. ^ Google Corporate History
  6. ^ Page, Lawrence; Brin, Sergey; Motwani, Rajeev; Winograd, Terry. "The PageRank Citation Ranking: Bringing Order to the Web." November 11, 1999.
  7. ^ Battelle, John. "The Birth of Google." Wired Magazine. August, 2005.
  8. ^ Li, Yanhong. "Toward a qualitative search engine." Internet Computing, IEEE. 2 (4), July-August, 1998, 24-29.
  9. ^ Yahoo! Search Marketing Website.
  10. ^ Dvorak, John C. "A Google-Microsoft War." PC Magazine. November 16, 2004.
  11. ^ a b Crawford, Krysten. "Google CFO: Fraud a big threat." CNN. December 2, 2004.
  12. ^ Lewis, Laura; Fox, Lynn. "NASA Takes Google on Journey into Space." National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Press Release. September 28, 2005.
  13. ^ Rosenbush, Steve. "AOL-Google: Who Gets What?" BusinessWeek. December 21, 2005.
  14. ^ Brown, James. "Sun partners with Google." vnunet.com. October 5, 2005.
  15. ^ Levingston, Steven. "Google Buys Company To Expand Into Radio." Washington Post. January 18, 2006.
  16. ^ Gonsalves, Anton. "Google Confirms Testing Ads in Sun-Times Newspaper." Information Week. " January 10, 2006.
  17. ^ Kroll, Luisa; Fass, Allison. "The World's Billionaires." Forbes. March 9, 2006.
  18. ^ Google Corporate Philosophy.
  19. ^ Hoagland, Eros. "Photo Essay: Life in the Googleplex." Time Magazine. February 16, 2006.
  20. ^ Associated Press. "Quirky Google Culture Endangered?" Wired Magazine. April 28, 2004
  21. ^ Baertlein, Lisa. "Google IPO at $2.7 billion." CIOL IT Unlimited. April 30, 2004.
  22. ^ Rivlin, Gary. "Relax, Bill Gates; It's Google's Turn as the Villain." New York Times. August 24, 2005.
  23. ^ Gibson, Owen; Wray, Richard. "Search giant may outgrow its fans." The Sydney Morning Herald. August 25, 2005.

Further reading

  • David Vise and Mark Malseed (2005-11-15). The Google Story. Delacorte Press. ISBN 055380457X. {{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 1591840880. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Stephen E. Arnold (2005-11-05). The Google Legacy: How Google's Internet Search is Transforming Application Software. Infornotics. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

Google's content links

Template:IT giants

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Google&oldid=59417357"