The History of Google

The Birth

Sep 15, 1997

Google.com is registered as a domain on September 15. The name—a play on the word "googol," a mathematical term for the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros—reflects Larry and Sergey's mission to organize a seemingly infinite amount of information on the web.

Google Friends Newsletter

Apr 1, 1998

Page launches a monthly "Google Friends Newsletter" to inform fans about company news. (They've since shut down Google Friends Newsletter in favor of blogs, Google+ and other methods of sharing news.)

The Check

Aug 1, 1998

Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim writes a check for $100,000 to an entity that doesn't exist yet—a company called Google Inc.

The First Doodle

Aug 30, 1998

Before heading to the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert, Page and Brin incorporate the iconic Man into the logo to keep people informed about where the Google crew would be for a few days.

Incorporation & 1st Employee

Sep 4, 1998

On September 4, Google files for incorporation in California. Page and Brin open a bank account in the newly-established company's name and deposit Andy Bechtolsheim's check. Google sets up workspace in Susan Wojcicki's garage on Santa Margarita Ave., Menlo Park, Calif. Page and Brin hire their first employee. Craig Silverstein is a fellow CS grad student at Stanford who works at Google for 10+ years before joining education startup Khan Academy.

New Digs

Apr 1, 1999

Google outgrows their garage office and move to new digs at 165 University Avenue in Palo Alto with just eight employees.

Company Dog

Apr 1, 1999

Yoshka, the first "company" dog, comes to work with the senior vice president of operations, Urs Hölzle.

1st Press Release

Jun 1, 1999

Google's first press release announces a $25 million round from Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins; John Doerr and Michael Moritz join the board.

2400 Bayshore Move

Aug 1, 1999

They move to their first Mountain View location: 2400 Bayshore. Mountain View is a few miles south of Stanford University, and north of the older towns of Silicon Valley: Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose.

First Chef

Nov 1, 1999

Google hires their first chef, Charlie Ayers (his previous claim to fame was catering for the Grateful Dead; he now owns a cafe in Palo Alto). Today Google's food programs focus on providing healthy, sustainably sourced food to fuel Googlers around the world.

First April Fools Hoax

Apr 1, 2000

They announce the MentalPlex: Google's ability to read your mind as you visualize the search results you want. Thus begins their annual foray in the Silicon Valley tradition of April 1 hoaxes.

Awards, Doodle & Languages

May 1, 2000

Google wins their first Webby Awards: Technical Achievement (voted by judges) and Peoples' Voice (voted by users). They run a series of doodles featuring a little alien—our first doodle series and the first doodle not associated with any particular event. The first 10 language versions of Google.com are released: French, German, Italian, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian and Danish. Today, search is available in 150+ languages.

Google NY & More Language Support

Sep 1, 2000

Google New York starts in a Starbucks on 86th Street with a one-person sales "team." Today, more than 4,000 Googlers work in our New York office, a former Port Authority building at 111 Eighth Avenue. Google start offering search in Chinese, Japanese and Korean—bringing our total number of supported languages to 15.

AdWords & Artwork Development

Oct 31, 2000

Google AdWords launches with 350 customers. The self-service ad program promises online activation with a credit card, keyword targeting and performance feedback. The first doodle by a guest artist, Lorie Loeb, goes live. Since then, many artists have lent their talents to the Google homepage, from Wayne Thiebaud to Christoph Niemann to Eric Carle.

Google Toolbar

Dec 1, 2000

Google Toolbar is released—a browser plug-in that makes it possible to search without visiting the Google homepage.

First Public Acquisition

Feb 1, 2001

In their first public acquisition, they acquire Deja.com's Usenet Discussion Service, an archive of 500 million Usenet discussions dating back to 1995. We add search and browse features and launch it as Google Groups.

Eric Schmidt

Mar 1, 2001

Eric Schmidt is named chairman of the board of directors.

Joke Languages

Apr 1, 2001

Swedish Chef becomes a language preference in search. Google offers several "joke" languages, including Klingon (language of a member of a warlike humanoid alien species in the television series Star Trek and its derivatives and sequels).

Google Images Launches

Jul 1, 2001

Google Images launches, initially offering access to 250 million images.

Google Zeitgeist Launches

Dec 1, 2001

Google releases their first annual Google Zeitgeist, a visual look at what millions of people searched for over the year just ending. It's a revealing look at the year that was, from "Harry Potter" to "Osama Bin Laden." They continue to release Zeitgeist every year.

Google APIs

Apr 1, 2002

Google releases the first set of Google APIs, enabling developers to query more than 2 billion web documents and program in their favorite environment, including Java, Perl and Visual Studio.

Google News

Sep 12, 2002

Google News launches with 4,000 news sources. Today Google News includes 50,000+ news sources, with 70 regional editions in different languages. All told, Google News and other services send publishers 6 billion clicks per month as of 2012.

Pyra Labs Acquisition

Feb 1, 2003

Google acquires Pyra Labs, the creators of Blogger. Nearly as old as Google itself (Blogger started in 1999), today more than 300 million people visit Blogger every month.

Google Code Jams

Oct 1, 2003

Registration opens for programmers to compete for cash prizes and recognition at the first ever Code Jam. Today, Google Code Jam attracts tens of thousands of contestants each year, and the finals have traveled to Tokyo, Dublin, London and New York City.

Google Print Launches

Dec 1, 2003

Google launches Google Print (now known as Google Books), indexing small excerpts from books to appear in search results. In 2004, the program expands through digital scanning partnerships with libraries. To date, they've scanned more than 20 million books.

Googleplex & Google Local

Mar 1, 2004

Google moves to the new "Googleplex" at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View with 800+ employees. They introduce Google Local, offering relevant neighborhood business listings, maps, and directions. (Eventually, Local is combined with Google Maps.)

Gmail & Google Blog Launches

Apr 1, 2004

Google launches Gmail on April Fools' Day. At first invite-only, today it boasts more than 425 million users.
Fun fact: their internal code name for Gmail was "Caribou," inspired by a Dilbert cartoon. The Official Google Blog goes live. Today, they offer a wide variety of ways—including Google+ pages and Twitter accounts—for people to get news from Google, in many different languages.

Stock Information

Aug 1, 2004

They're Initial Public Offering of 19,605,052 shares of Class A common stock takes place on Wall Street. Opening price: $85 per share.

Picasa Acquisition

Sep 12, 2004

Google acquires Picasa, which helps people organize and display photos online.

Google Scholar BETA Launches

Nov 1, 2004

Google launches Google Scholar in beta. This free service helps people search scholarly literature such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports.

Google.org Launches

Dec 1, 2004

Google establishes Google.org, dedicated to the idea that technology can help make the world a better place.

Google Maps Goes Live

Feb 1, 2005

Google Maps goes live. Just two months later, they add satellite views and directions to the product.

Mobile Maps & First YouTube Video Released

Apr 1, 2005

Google Maps comes to mobile phones in the U.S., offering driving directions and local information to people on the go. Their first Google Maps release in Europe is geared to U.K. users. France, Germany, Italy and Spain follow in 2006. Today, they offer driving directions in 190+ countries around the world. The first video goes up on YouTube (not yet part of Google). Today, 100+ hours of video are uploaded every minute and people watch 6 billion hours of video per month!

Mobile Web, Google Earth, & Maps API

Jun 1, 2005

Google Mobile Web Search is released. Google unveils Google Earth, a satellite imagery-based mapping service that lets you take a virtual journey to any location in the world. The Google Maps API is released; developers can embed Google Maps on many kinds of mapping services and sites. Today there are 1 million active websites and apps using the API, reaching 1 billion people every week.

Google Talk Launches

Aug 1, 2005

Google launches Google Talk, a downloadable application that lets Gmail users to talk or instant message with friends quickly and easily; Chat comes to Gmail the following year. In 2013, they announce that Talk will be rolled into Hangouts, Google's new single communications system.

Google Calendar & Translate Launches

Apr 1, 2006

We launch Google Calendar to help you keep track of events, special occasions and appointments, and to share schedules with others. Google Translate launches, offering translations between Arabic and English. Today our machine translation service provides translations between 70+ different languages.

YouTube Acquisition

Oct 1, 2006

Google announces their acquisition of YouTube.

Maps Triffic Information Increases

Feb 1, 2007

Google adds traffic information to Google Maps for 30+ cities around the U.S. Today, live traffic data is available in 50+ countries, covering highways, streets and more in 600+ major cities.

gBikes Appear on Campus

Mar 1, 2007

The first "gBikes" appear on campus, giving Googlers an efficient, convenient and healthy way to get to and from meetings. Today around 700 bikes are on campus at any given moment—just one sign of Google's cycling-friendly culture.

Street View Launches

May 1, 2007

Street View debuts in Google Maps in five U.S. cities: New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami, and Denver. Today, Street View is available in more than 50 countries.

Google Goes Green

Jun 1, 2007

Google installs solar panels on our Mountain View campus—the largest corporate solar panel installation of its kind at the time. Today the solar panels power 30 percent of the buildings they sit on. They unveil a new green initiative aimed at accelerating the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. We later retire the RechargeIT initiative, though we continue to offer electric vehicles as part of our employee car sharing service.

Announcement of Android

Nov 1, 2007

We announce Android—the first open platform for mobile devices—and a collaboration with other companies in the Open Handset Alliance.

First Google I/O

May 1, 2008

Google hosts the first Google I/O, their annual developer conference, in San Francisco. I/O has grown since then; in addition to the thousands of developers who join them in person every year, millions of people tune in via live stream to hear the latest news on products.

First iPhone App

Jul 1, 2008

The first downloadable iPhone app, enables quicker mobile searching, and debuts with the launch of the Apple 3G iPhone.

Google Suggest Launches

Aug 1, 2008

Google Suggest (later called Autocomplete) arrives on Google.com, helping formulate queries, reduce spelling errors and reducing keystrokes.

First Android Phone & Chrome Launches

Sep 12, 2008

T-Mobile announces the G1, the first phone built on the Android operating system. Google Chrome becomes available for download, one day after a comic book announcing our new browser leaks onto the web. Five years later, Chrome boasts more than 750 million users.

Voice Search Launches

Feb 1, 2009

Google launches Voice Search on Android. Android users can start searching by voice with the touch of a button, making mobile web surfing easy and fast.

Chrome OS Announced

Jul 1, 2009

Google announces that we're developing Google Chrome OS, an open source, lightweight operating system initially targeted at laptops.

Maps Naviagation Launched

Oct 12, 2009

Google Maps Navigation is a turn-by-turn GPS navigation system with 3D views, voice guidance and live traffic data.

Chrome for Mac & Linux

Dec 28, 2009

Just in time for the holidays they roll out Mac and Linux versions of Google Chrome, as well as extensions for Chrome in Windows and Linux (all in beta).

Nexus One Introduced

Jan 1, 2010

Google introduces the Nexus One to show what's possible on Android devices. The Nexus line of devices has since grown and now includes tablets as well as phones.

Bike Trails on Maps

Mar 1, 2010

Bike directions and bike trail data come to Google Maps. Today, there are more than 330,000 miles (530,000 kilometers) of biking trails and paths in Google Maps to help you get around on your two wheels.

First Playable Doodle

May 1, 2010

In celebration of PAC-MAN’s 30th birthday, we release our first-ever playable doodle, complete with all 256 levels and Ms. PAC-MAN.

Google Instant Launches

Sep 1, 2010

Google Instant shows you search results as you type so you can quickly get to the information you’re looking for.

Self-Driving Cars Announced

Sep 12, 2010

Google announces they've developed technology for cars that can drive themselves; they think self-driving cars can help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions. Their automated cars have since logged more than 500,000 miles on the road.

2-Step Verification Introduced

Feb 1, 2011

Google introduces an advanced opt-in security feature called 2-step verification to help people keep their Google Accounts secure. 2-step verification is now available in 40 languages and 150+ countries.

Larry Page as CEO

Apr 1, 2011

Larry Page takes over as CEO—10 years after he last held the title. Eric Schmidt becomes executive chairman.

Google Wallet & the First Chromebooks

May 1, 2011

Google Wallet makes it convenient to shop in-store, online or on the go, and helps merchants simplify the checkout experience. Google announces the first Chromebooks from partners Samsung and Acer. Chromebooks are designed to be fast, simple, secure and easy to keep updated.

Chrome on Android

Feb 1, 2012

Chrome launches on Android, so you can take the same simple, fast and secure web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices. Three months later they launch Chrome on iOS.

Project Glass & Google Drive Announcements

Apr 1, 2012

Project Glass is unveiled. Google Drive launches, enabling you to create, share, collaborate and keep your files—including videos, photos, Google Docs and PDFs—all in one place.

Motorola, Transparency, & Google Shopping

May 1, 2012

Google acquires Motorola Mobility. They expand our Transparency Report with a new section on copyright, providing information on the number of requests we get from copyright owners to remove Google Search results because they allegedly link to infringing content. They transition Google Product Search to Google Shopping to help people research products and connect directly with merchants to make purchases.

Google Now Annouced

Jun 1, 2012

Google announces Google Now, which brings you the information you need, before you even ask, like what today’s weather will be like, how much traffic to expect on your way to work or your favorite team's score while they’re playing.

Olympics Streamed Live

Jul 1, 2012

The world sees the Olympics live on YouTube for the first time. Viewers watched a total of 230 million video streams, and our partnership with NBC makes it the most live-streamed Olympics to date.

Google Fiber Begins Installation

Nov 1, 2012

Google begins installing Google Fiber—ultra-high speed Internet access that is up to 100 times faster than today’s average broadband—for our first customers in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City Missouri. The next year, we announce Fiber in Austin, Texas and Provo, Utah.

Gangnam Style Reaches 1 Billion

Dec 1, 2012

Psy’s Gangnam Style becomes the most-watched video of all time—the first and only YouTube video to reach 1 billion views.