Maria Papakanakis

Prof. Ruth BestSeminar: Critical Issues in Business

HISTORYGoogle Inc. was founded in 1995 by Sergey

Brin and Larry Page.

They were computer science students at Stanford University and became friends while attending a school event.

In 1996, they developed their first search engine called “BackRub”. This attempt was not very successful.

HISTORYBrin and Page continued their efforts and in

1997, Google came to life.

They wanted the name of their new search engine to represent an infinity of information.

The word “Google” is made up from the mathematical term “googol”, which is used for the number represented by the numerical 1 followed by 100 zeros.

HISTORYBy the end of 1998, Google was named one

of the “Top 100 Web Sites” by PC Magazine.

Google entered the NASDAQ stock market on Aug. 19, 2004.

The price of their stock on the very first day was $85 dollars.

LIFE OF A GOOGLE QUERY

The Google search engine

operates by sending the users’

query search through the

company’s index server.

The index server works

similarly to an index in a book and

then sends the search to a more

specific location.

The search then goes into the

doc server which brings up all

relevant documents.

The results are displayed to the

user within a fraction of a second.

FINANCIALSGoogle has been a very profitable company as a

whole.

Exactly one year after entering the stock market, the price of Google stock was $280.oo dollars.

By October of 2007, it has reached $707.00 dollars.

Google’s average stock price presently, sells at about $480.00.

FINANCIALS

2009 2008 2007 2006 2005

Total Revenue:

23,650.56 21,795.55

16,593.99

10,604.92

6,138.56

Gross Profit:

14,806.45 13,174.04

9,944.90 6, 379.89 3,561.47

April 2010, 1st Quarter reported revenues: $6.77 billion dollars

July 2010, 2nd Quarter reported revenues: $6.82 billion dollars

CRITICAL ISSUESRecently, Google executives fired one of their software

engineers for violating privacy issues. David Barksdale is being accused of hacking into Gmail and Google Voice accounts of a number of children.

Google offices in South Korea, and several countries in Europe and Australia are apparently being examined by authorities for privacy violations. Google is being accused of collecting and storing data from Internet clients that were using Wi-Fi wireless networks.

Google is also being sued by Oracle, the maker of Java software, for apparently using its software for its Android phone without permission.

GOOGLE FUN FACTSGoogle staffs more than 2, 668 employees who are known

as Googlers.

The company’s headquarters in Mountain View, CA is the

Googleplex.

Google’s chef has also worked for the rock band The

Grateful Dead and George Clinton.

In 2002, American Dialect Society members voted

“Google” “the most useful” Word of the Year.

The verb “google”, was added to the Merriam Webster

Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary in

2006.

REFERENCES

ChartsIncome Statement Chart -

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:GOOG&fstype=iiOne year chart

http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/charts/chartdl.aspx?PT=7&compsyms=&D4=1&DD=1&D5=0&DCS=2&MA0=0&MA1=0&CP=1&C5=8&C5D=19&C6=2004&C7=8&C7D=19&C8=2005&C9=-1&CF=0&D7=&D6=&showchartbt=Redraw+chart&symbol=GOOG&nocookie=1&SZ=0  Corporate Information. (2010). Company Overview.

Retrieved September 13, 2010 http://www.google.com/corporate/ Corporate Information. (2010). Milestones.

Retrieved on September 13, 2010 from http://www.google.com/corporate/history.html Company Overview. (2010). About the company

Retrieved on September 20, 2010 http://investor.google.com/company/ Fortune 500. (2010). Top Companies

Retrieved on September 20, 2010 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/employers/

Google query. (2010). Retrieved on September 13, 2010 from http://www.google.com/corporate/tech.html

REFERENCES La Monica, R.(2004). Google sets $2.7 billion IPO.

Retrieved September 12, 2010 http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/29/technology/google/ Popkin, H. (2010). Creepy Google stalker proves your privacy is an illusion

Retrieved September 15, 2010 http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/09/14/5111367-creepy-google-stalker-proves-your-privacy-is-an-illusion

Predictionshttp://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/02/google%E2%80%99s-music-strategy-past-present-and-future/ 

Press Center. (2010). Google Fun Facts.Retrieved September 13, 2010 http://www.google.com/press/funfacts.html

Swartz, J., (2010, August 16). Oracle goes after Google over Java. USAToday.Retrieved September 7, 2010 http://library.cw.edu:2052/pqdweb?index=31&sid=2&srchmode=1&vinst=PROD&fmt=3&

Unknown. (2010). Google Inc., Company History.Retrieved September 12, 2010 http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Google-Inc-Company-History.html

Woo, J and McGroarty, P. (2010 August 11). Corporate News: Google mapping worries spread—South Korean police raid internet firm’s offices; German officials criticize street view review plan. The Wall Street Journal.Retrieved September 7, 2010 from http://library.cw.edu:2052/pqdweb?index=54&sid=2&srchmode=1&vinst=PROD&fmt=3&