Google LLC is one of the world’s most recognizable and valuable companies, with a dominant presence in the technology industry. Its search engine alone processes billions of queries every day, and its suite of products and services has revolutionized the way people interact with the internet. But while most people are familiar with Google, few know the story of its origins and the people behind it. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the history of Google LLC and answer the question: Who founded Google LLC?
Who founded it?
Who founded Google?
Google LLC was founded by Larry Page ↗ and Sergey Brin ↗ in September 1998, while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University in California. They initially named their search engine “Backrub” but later changed it to “Google”, a play on the word “googol” which refers to the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. Page and Brin worked on developing the search engine in their dorm rooms and eventually turned it into the technology giant it is today.
A brief history of Google
The history of Google LLC dates back to 1995 when Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were both Ph.D. students at Stanford University, met for the first time. They began working together on a search engine project called Backrub, which was designed to rank search results based on the number and quality of links pointing to them.
In 1997, Page and Brin registered the domain name “google.com,” and a year later, they incorporated their company, Google LLC. The name “Google” is a play on the word “googol,” which is a mathematical term for the number one followed by 100 zeros.
Initially, Google was based out of a garage in Menlo Park, California. The first servers were made out of Legos, and the company’s early employees worked long hours to develop the search engine technology. In 1998, Google received its first investment of $100,000 from the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Andy Bechtolsheim.
In 1999, Google moved into its first official office in Palo Alto, California, and continued to expand its search engine technology. That same year, Google secured a $25 million investment from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins, which helped the company scale its operations and improve its search algorithms.
In 2000, Google launched its AdWords (Now Google Ads) advertising platform, which allowed businesses to bid on keywords to display their ads alongside search results. The platform was an instant success and quickly became a major source of revenue for the company.
Google’s success continued to grow, and in 2004, the company went public with an initial public offering (IPO) that raised $1.67 billion, making it one of the most successful IPOs in history.
Over the next several years, Google continued to innovate and expand, launching new products and services like Google Maps, Google News, and Google Analytics. In 2005, Google acquired Android, a company that was developing an operating system for mobile devices, which would later become the foundation for the Android OS used by billions of smartphones worldwide.
In 2006, Google purchased YouTube ↗, the world’s largest video-sharing platform, for $1.65 billion. The acquisition helped Google expand its reach into the world of online video and cemented its position as a major player in the tech industry.
In 2011, Larry Page became the CEO of Google, taking over from Eric Schmidt, who had been leading the company since 2001. Under Page’s leadership, Google continued to grow and expand, launching products like Google+ and Google Glass.
In 2015, Google reorganized under a new parent company called Alphabet Inc., which allowed the company to focus on a wider range of products and services beyond just search and advertising. Alphabet includes a number of subsidiaries, including Google, Nest, Verily, and Waymo, among others.
Today, Google is one of the largest and most influential companies in the world, with a market capitalization of over $1 trillion. Its search engine processes billions of queries every day, and its products and services touch nearly every aspect of modern life. Despite its massive size and influence, Google continues to innovate and push the boundaries of what’s possible in the tech industry.
