Google

Google is an American multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products, with an emphasis on online advertising, search, cloud computing, software, and hardware. It operates the Google search engine, the world's most widely used, and a suite of popular consumer and enterprise products.

Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University as a research project named BackRub, Google developed the PageRank algorithm to rank web pages. The company was incorporated later that year, went public in 2004, and expanded through acquisitions such as YouTube in 2006 and Android in 2005. In 2015, Google restructured as Alphabet Inc., with Google as its largest subsidiary; Sundar Pichai became CEO of Google (and Alphabet) in 2019.

Core products and services include Google Search; online advertising platforms such as Google Ads, AdSense, and Ad Manager; YouTube; Android and Google Play; Chrome; Gmail; Maps and Drive; and the Google Cloud Platform. The company also develops hardware products like Pixel phones and Nest smart devices, and operates Workspace for business productivity.

Google's business model relies predominantly on advertising revenue. It also generates income from cloud services, app sales, and hardware. The company maintains extensive data centers and has invested in artificial intelligence and research through Google AI and DeepMind.

Google has faced regulatory scrutiny over competition and privacy practices in various jurisdictions. It has faced antitrust investigations and fines and continues to respond to data protection and consumer privacy concerns while maintaining its dominant market position.