Google
Google LLC is an American multinational technology corporation and a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.[^c1] Founded on September 4, 1998, by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were PhD students at Stanford University,[^c2] the company grew from a research project called BackRub into one of the world's most valuable companies, with a market capitalization of $4.71 trillion as of May 2026.[^c3]
The company's core innovation was a search algorithm that ranked web pages by tracking each website's backing links rather than counting keyword appearances.[^c4] The name "Google" was derived from a misspelling of "googol," the number one followed by 100 zeros.[^c5] Initial funding came from Andy Bechtolsheim, a cofounder of Sun Microsystems,[^c6] followed by venture capital from Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital.[^c7] Google went public on August 19, 2004, at $85 per share, raising $1.67 billion.[^c8] In 2015, the company reorganized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.,[^c9] with Sundar Pichai as Google CEO. Pichai later became Alphabet CEO in 2019.[^c10] As of late 2025, Google Search retained 73.7 percent of US desktop search activity.[^c21]
The majority of Google's revenue comes from advertising through AdMob, AdSense, and DoubleClick.[^c11] In 2025, Alphabet posted a record $403 billion in annual revenue,[^c12] with Google alone projected to capture $213.3 billion, or 85.8 percent of the global search advertising market.[^c13] In the first quarter of 2026, Alphabet reported revenue of $109.9 billion, up 22 percent year-over-year, with net income of $62.58 billion.[^c26] Capital expenditure for 2026 is projected between $180 billion and $190 billion, primarily for AI infrastructure.[^c25] By the first quarter of 2026, Google's paid subscriptions across services including YouTube Premium and Google One reached 350 million, adding 25 million in the quarter.[^c27] The company has 10 services with over 1 billion users each,[^c15] including Google Search, Android, Chrome, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Photos. The company operates a three-part business model: Google Services (search, YouTube, Play Store), Google Cloud, and Other Bets led by Waymo.[^c24] It developed Gemini as a ChatGPT competitor,[^c16] and its DeepMind division created Gemini Deep Think, an AI system capable of tackling professional-level research problems in mathematics, physics, and computer science.[^c17] Google merged its Brain and DeepMind research units in 2023, accelerating the pipeline from AI research to product deployment.[^c22] In March 2025, Alphabet agreed to acquire cloud security firm Wiz for $32 billion, its largest acquisition, to strengthen Google Cloud's security offerings.[^c23]
The company has faced significant legal and regulatory challenges. In August 2024, a U.S. court found Google had an illegal monopoly over internet search under the Sherman Act.[^c18] A September 2025 remedies ruling barred exclusive default search contracts but did not require a divestiture of Chrome or Android.[^c19] In March 2026, Google settled a separate antitrust case brought by Epic Games, agreeing to allow third-party app stores on Android and reduce developer commissions.[^c28] In April 2026, the European Commission proposed measures requiring Google to give rival AI assistants equal system-level access on Android under the Digital Markets Act.[^c29] In 2025, Google was ordered to pay $425 million by a U.S. jury for privacy violations, while France's data protection authority fined the company €325 million for similar offenses.[^c20]