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The start of Google
Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were students at Stanford University in California. Together they own about 14 percent of its shares and control 56 percent of the stockholder voting power through supervoting stock. They incorporated Google as a California privately held a company in California. -
Upgrading to Googleplex
An initial public offering took place on August 19, 2004, and Google moved to its headquarters in Mountain View, California, nicknamed the Googleplex. -
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Google partnered with major manufacturers
Google has moved increasingly into hardware; from 2010 to 2015, it partnered with major electronics manufacturers in the production of its Nexus devices, and it released multiple hardware products in October 2016, including the Google Pixel smartphone, Google Home smart speaker, Google Wifi mesh wireless router, and Google Daydream virtual reality headset. -
Google's problem
Google.com is the most visited website in the world. Several other Google services also figure in the top 100 most visited websites, including YouTube and Blogger. Google was the most valuable brand in the world as of 2017, but has received significant criticism involving issues such as privacy concerns, tax avoidance, antitrust, censorship, and search neutrality.
