Google LLC (/ˈɡuːɡəl/ GOO-ghəl) is a leading American multinational technology company specializing in online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, software development, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial intelligence (AI).
Often described as “the most powerful company in the world,” Google is also one of the most valuable global brands, recognized for its market dominance, data collection practices, and technological prowess in AI.
Its parent company, Alphabet Inc., ranks among the “Big Tech” firms alongside Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.
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Founded on September 4, 1998, by Larry Page and Sergey Brin—then PhD students at Stanford University—Google has since grown into a corporate giant.
Together, Page and Brin control about 56% of the voting power through special stock, while owning roughly 14% of publicly listed shares.
Google went public in 2004 through an initial public offering (IPO), and in 2015, it was restructured as a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.
Sundar Pichai became CEO of Google in 2015 and later took over as Alphabet’s CEO in December 2019, succeeding Larry Page.
Over time, Google has expanded far beyond its search engine, offering a variety of products that dominate their respective markets.
These include Gmail (email), Google Maps, Waze, and Google Earth (navigation), Google Cloud (cloud computing), Chrome (web browser), YouTube (video sharing), Google Workspace (productivity tools), Android (mobile OS), Google Drive (cloud storage), Google Photos (photo storage), and Google Assistant (AI).
Other innovations include Pixel smartphones, smart home devices (Nest), wearable tech (Pixel Watch and Fitbit), music and video streaming services (YouTube Music and YouTube TV), and machine learning platforms (TensorFlow).
Some discontinued products include Stadia (gaming), Google Glass, Google+, and Google Play Music. Beyond consumer tech, Google also invests in areas like quantum computing (Sycamore), self-driving cars (Waymo), smart cities (Sidewalk Labs), and AI research (DeepMind).
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Google’s Search and YouTube are the two most-visited websites globally, followed by Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
The company leads in market share across search engines, online video platforms, mapping services, email, mobile operating systems, cloud storage, machine learning frameworks, and AI assistants.
Forbes ranks Google as the second most valuable brand, while Interbrand places it fourth.
Despite its success, Google has faced numerous criticisms and legal challenges, particularly over privacy concerns, tax practices, censorship, monopolistic behavior, and antitrust violations.
Most recently, on August 5, 2024, Judge Amit P. Mehta of the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that Google had maintained an illegal monopoly over internet search.
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