Google, or BackRub, is the largest multinational tech company with online products and services, including a search engine, software, and hardware. It is one of the four big technology companies in the United States technology firms; these four firms are ‘Amazon, ‘Apple,’ Microsoft,’ and, of course ‘Google.’ Today, we’ll dive into the topic of who owns Google.
The tech giant was founded in September 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in California while they were students at Stanford University. These two men achieved a significant breakthrough in the tech world. In this article, we will talk about Google, including who owns Google and its shareholders.
What Is Google?
Google is the most commonly used search engine worldwide, and it started development by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1996. These two people improved the search engine as a project at Stanford University. Its original name was BackRub. Then, these two friends decided to change the name of their search engine. These two friends’ source of inspiration for the search engine’s name was the word ‘googol.’ What does ‘googol’ mean? It is a mathematical word and equals 1, followed by one hundred zeros. Mathematicians use it to describe a huge number. That’s why, when we look at Google’s source of inspiration and its function, it is a perfect idea!
Now, the tech giant is managed in Mountain View, California, the United States. The Google domain name, google.com, was bought on September 15, 1997.
Google provides countless products and services; even Google’s workers may not completely say all of these services in a sitting. However, the most commonly known and used Google services are Gmail, Youtube, Docs, Photos, Calendar, Translate, and Google Play. On the other hand, Android Auto, Android O.S., Chromebook, and Android T.V. are some of Google’s products.
The most important advantage of Google is that the company offers these hundreds of services for free. For this reason, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Google dominated the tech world. It is becoming more and more popular with each passing day. Well, the first question coming to mind is that who owns Google?
Who Really Owns Google?
The company is still managed by two co-founders, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page. Page and Brin have %51 of the voting power. However, there are also many individual and institutional shareholders of the company. The most prominent individual shareholders are John Doerr and Sunder Pichai. Doerr is a venture capitalist, and the first investor of Google, and Pichai is the current Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the company since October 2, 2015. Google also bought YouTube, so you may want to learn when did Google buy YouTube.
Here are Google’s top owners and shareholders;
Larry Page
Page is one of Google’s co-founders. Now, he is a board member of the Alphabet. Page holds approximately 44.6 million shares of Class B stock and another 44.6 million shares of Class C stocks.
Sergey Brin
Brin is the other co-founder of Google. Like Page, he is a board member of the Alphabet. He was born in Russia and came to the U.S. with his family in 1979. Brin is the second-largest Class C shareholder. He also holds Class B stocks, like Page.
These two co-founders met each other at Stanford University in California. They developed an early version of Google as a research project, and then in 1998, they founded the company in California. Also, Google was offered to the public on August 19, 2004.
Sundar Pichai
Pichai worked for the software division of Google. He became CEO of the company on October 2, 2015. He holds all types of the company’s shares; Class A, Class B, and Class C stocks.
Vanguard Group, Inc
Vanguard Group is one of the largest investment advisors across the U.S. The company holds approximately $22.6 million of Class C shares in Alphabet. Thus, this amount of shares makes it the third-biggest shareholder of the company.
BlackRock, Inc
BlackRock is the largest asset manager all around the world. It is also a global investment management company founded by Laurence D. Fink and the other seven people in 1988. BlackRock holds almost $20 million of Class C shares in Alphabet. Therefore, this amount of shares makes it the fourth-biggest shareholder of the company.
T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc
T. Rowe Price Associates holds approximately $12.3 million of Class C shares in Alphabet.
Who Owns Google In Short
In this article, we talked about who owns Google. The control of Google/Alphabet is still in its co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They are still the major individual shareholders of the company, with 51% of the voting power. The company has three different kinds of common stocks; these are Class A, Class B, and Class C. That’s why Brian and Page preserved their control over the shares of the company with their Class B and C stocks. These friends are the wealthiest people in the world and still the largest shareholders of Goole/Alphabet.
3 Comments
The guy who owns Google must be the living the dream. Wish I was in his shoes.
I’m so tired of the owners of Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin always want to know individuals cell phone numbers and different type of emails so they can track the users of their products, but they want to give out their cell phone numbers or how to contact info, but they want to know everybody else business I’m a very privacy individual and its none of their business
Why is Google Chrome linked to Microsoft News, carrying the same junk stories and allowing the same moronic and nasty comments?