Google turns 10, finds wealth

By Michael Liedtke

Published: September 6, 2008

MOUNTAIN VIEW,Calif. — When Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google Inc. on Sept. 7, 1998, they had little more than their ingenuity, four computers and an investor's $100,000 bet on their belief that an Internet search engine could change the world.

It sounded preposterous 10 years ago, but look now: Google draws upon a gargantuan computer network, nearly 20,000 employees and a $150 billion market value to redefine media, marketing and technology.

Perhaps Google's biggest test in the next decade will be finding a way to pursue its seemingly boundless ambitions without triggering a backlash that derails the company.

"You can't do some of the things that they are trying to do without eventually facing some challenges from the government and your rivals,” said Danny Sullivan, who has followed Google since its inception and is now editor-in-chief of SearchEngineLand.

Google's expanding control over the flow of Internet traffic is raising monopoly concerns.

The intensifying regulatory and political scrutiny on Google's expansion could present more roadblocks in the future.

Privacy watchdogs also attack Google's storing potentially sensitive information about the 650 million people who use its search engine and other Internet services like YouTube, Maps and Gmail. If rules restrict Google's data collection, it could make its search engine less relevant and its ad network less profitable.

To protect its interests, Google has hired lobbyists and ramped up its public relations staff as management gears up to conquer new frontiers.

In the latest example of its relentless expansion, Google has just released a Web browser to make its search engine and other online services even more accessible and appealing.

Extending Google's ubiquity to cell phones and other mobile devices sits at the top of management's agenda for the next decade.

Page and Brin, both 35 now and worth nearly $19 billion apiece, declined to be interviewed for this story. But they have never left any doubt they view Google as a force for good — a philosophy punctuated by their corporate motto: "Don't Be Evil.”

Craig Silverstein, Google's technology director and the first employee hired by Page and Brin, agrees.

"If we had a lightsaber, we would be Luke (Skywalker),” Silverstein said.

Eventually, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt wants the entire company to generate $100 billion in annual revenue, which would make it roughly as big as the two largest information-technology companies — Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM Corp. — each are now. This year, Google will surpass the $20 billion threshold for the first time.

Rivals are determined to thwart Google. TV and movie conglomerate Viacom Inc. is suing Google for $1 billion for alleged copyright infringement at YouTube, while Microsoft signaled how desperately it wants to topple Google by offering to buy Yahoo for $47.5 billion this year. Microsoft withdrew the takeover bid.

Google occupies a 1.5 million-square-foot headquarters and 24 U.S. offices and hubs in more than 30 other countries.

Even after Google became an official company, the business continued to operate out of the founders' Stanford dorm rooms.

Silverstein's goal in the beginning? Help Google get big enough to employ 80 people.

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