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Larry Page and Sergey Brin met at Stanford in 1995 while pursuing their PhDs.
Their research project evolved into Google, which they launched from a dorm room.
By 2005, Google had transformed from a two-person startup into the world's leading search engine, generating billions in revenue.
Google began in 1996 when Stanford PhD students Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed "BackRub," a search engine that ranked websites by counting their incoming links.
They treated these backlinks as votes of importance, mirroring how academic papers gain authority through citations.
Programmer Scott Hassan implemented Page's ranking algorithm in Python.
On September 15th, the google.com domain is registered but the search engine is not officially incorporated yet.
Google's 1998 incorporation occurred in two key moments: Larry Page and Sergey Brin registered the company on September 4th with early investor Andy Bechtolsheim, then moved operations into a Menlo Park garage that March.
The founders chose "Google" as their company name, drawing from "googol" — a mathematical term representing 10^100.
Google secures $25 million from Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital in June 1999.
The company launches Google Search to index and organize web content.
Google launches Ads: Advertisers pay when users click their text advertisements, tying ad costs directly to user engagement.
Experienced technology executive Eric Schmidt is hired as Google's first CEO to provide corporate leadership.
Google launches Google News, an automated news aggregation service that summarizes top stories from thousands of publications.
Google moves their headquarters to Mountain View, California's Googleplex campus, providing space for rapid expansion.
April 2004: Google launches Gmail with 1GB free storage, dwarfing Hotmail's 2MB and Yahoo Mail's 4MB limits.
August 2004: Google goes public at $85 per share.
The IPO raises $1.67 billion through an unconventional Dutch auction, valuing the six-year-old company at $23 billion.
Google Maps launches, displaying street layouts and offering turn-by-turn navigation.
Users can switch between map view and actual satellite photos of locations.
Google Earth renders our planet in three dimensions.
Users zoom from space to street level, examining terrain contours and city structures with precise detail.
In Google's largest acquisition ever, they purchase the video sharing site YouTube for $1.65 billion to bolster their video services.
Google expands beyond search with Google Apps, offering businesses cloud-based email, document editing, and file storage.
The launch positions Google to compete directly with Microsoft Office, marking its first major push into enterprise software.
By this time, Google's core products—Search, Gmail, Maps, and YouTube—dominate their respective markets.
Google releases Chrome browser, outpacing Firefox and Internet Explorer with faster page loads, streamlined interface, and enhanced security features.
Google buys digital advertising platform DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, connecting them directly with web publishers and advertising firms.
Google launches Google+, a social networking service to challenge Facebook and Twitter where users can share content in "circles" of connections.
Search platform surpassed 1 billion monthly users accessing web information.
Google acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, securing mobile patents and hardware expertise.
Android phones and tablets drove Google's expansion in the mobile market.
In 2015, Google split into two parts: Alphabet became the parent company, while Google continued running the core internet business.
This reorganization created clearer lines of authority, with Alphabet overseeing Google alongside other technology ventures.
To gain talent and IP around phone hardware, Google spends $1.1 billion to acquire parts of HTC's smartphone engineering division.
Google faced mounting challenges on two fronts in this period.
State regulators launched a sweeping antitrust probe, with 50 states examining Google's grip on digital advertising and search results.
Meanwhile, Google pushed into new territory with Stadia, streaming high-end video games directly to players' screens.
The company expanded its physical products, releasing new Pixel phones and Nest smart home devices.
But this growth attracted heightened regulatory scrutiny.
Officials questioned Google's data collection practices and market dominance.
The Department of Justice sued Google on October 20, 2020, charging the company with using illegal tactics to protect its search engine dominance.
The lawsuit, joined by eleven states, specifically targets Google's contracts with phone makers and web browsers.
State attorneys general from 37 jurisdictions filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, echoing claims from the Department of Justice's existing complaint.
In France, regulators fined Google $593 million after determining the company failed to negotiate fairly with news organizations.
Google plans to build and expand data centers and offices across the U.S., committing $9.5 billion to these projects.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit targets Google's search engine dominance, specifically how Google pays phone makers and browsers to set Google as their default search engine.
The case could force Google to stop these payments or restructure its search business.
While Google still controls roughly 90% of the U.S. search market, federal regulators now actively challenge their business practices in court.
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