Google Inc.

GOOG: Nasdaq; Technology/IT Services & Consulting

OTHER EXCHANGES: Mexico, XETRA Level 1

Founded in 1998, Google runs the world's most popular Internet search engine. It's a position that has earned Google huge profits and given it outsize influence over the online world.

But Google's ambition far exceeds the confines of Internet search and advertising. The company sees its mission as the organization of the world's information, making it universally accessible and useful.

Google has been testing out new tricks, including display ads and mobile phones, with its Android mobile operating system and acquisition of AdMob, the mobile advertising company. But none of these new businesses are generating significant revenue for the search giant yet.

Google's unbounded ambition, as well as what many critics say is a cavalier approach to copyrights, has put it at odds with a growing list of companies in industries ranging from Hollywood to book publishing and from telecommunications to e-commerce. And the company's appetite for collecting vast amounts of data about its users and their online habits has prompted increasing fears that Google could become a threat to consumer privacy.

The company continues to dominate in its core business, search advertising, which accounts for more than 90 percent of its revenue. But Google faces fierce competition from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Facebook wants to turn scores of sites across the Internet into satellites where users will be able to interact with their Facebook friends. What's troubling for Google about Facebook's growth is that the information exchanged over the social network is walled off from search engines — and increasingly lucrative territory for ads.

Google also faces new competition from Microsoft's Bing. Bing still handles a small slice of Web searches in the United States, 12.7 percent, compared with Google's 62.6 percent. But Bing's share has been growing, as has Yahoo's, while Google's has been shrinking.

In November 2010, the top European antitrust regulator opened an investigation into Google to examine allegations that it has abused its dominance in online search

Company Information

Google Inc. maintains an index of Websites and other online content, and makes this information freely available through its search engine to anyone with an Internet connection. Its automated search technology helps people obtain nearly instant access to relevant information from its online index. It generates revenue primarily by delivering online advertising. Businesses use its AdWords program to promote their products and services with targeted advertising. In addition, the thousands of third-party Websites that comprise the Google Network use its AdSense program to deliver relevant ads that generate revenue and enhance the user experience. In September 2009, the Company acquired ReCAPTCHA Inc., a spin-off of Carnegie Mellon University's Computer Science Department. In February 2010, it acquired Aardvark. In February 2010, it acquired On2 Technologies, Inc. In August 2010, it acquired Slide, a social technology company. In August 2010, it acquired Angstro.

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View CA 94043
Phone: +1 (650) 253-0000
Fax: +1 (650) 618-1499

website: www.google.com