Google’s first decade: A look back
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Internet giant Google was incorporated 10 years ago today. Here’s a look back at some milestones in the company’s first decade.
January 1996: Stanford graduate students Larry Page (above, left) and Sergey Brin (above, right) begin working on a search engine they call BackRub
September 1997: Google.com is registered
August 1998: Google gets its first investment, $100,000 from Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim
September 1998: Google sets up in a Menlo Park garage, incorporates and hires its first employee
June 1999: Google announces it raised $25 million in venture capital funding
August 1999: Google adds a ‘doodle’ to its logo for the first time, to celebrate the start of the Burning Man festival
June 2000: Yahoo hires Google to provide search technology
July 2001: Google Images launches
August 2001: Google hires Eric Schmidt as chief executive officer
February 2002: Google overhauls its advertising system, laying the foundation for a multibillion-dollar business
February 2004: Yahoo dumps Google and launches its own search engine
March 2004: After several moves in Silicon Valley, Google settles into its current ...
... Mountain View campus, known as the Googleplex
April 2004: Gmail launches
August 2004: Google goes public at $85 a share
February 2005: Google Maps launches
June 2005: Google Earth launches
January 2006: Google China launches, drawing criticism about censorship of Web pages indexed
June 2006: The Oxford English Dictionary adds ‘google’ as a verb
August 2006: Google partners with MySpace to deliver ads
October 2006: Google announces acquisition of YouTube
October 2006: Google launches spreadsheet and word processing programs
November 2006: Google’s stock hits $500
March 2007: Viacom Inc. sues Google for copyright infringement by YouTube
April 2007: Google announces acquisition of DoubleClick
October 2007: Google stock hits $600, then $700, peaking at $741
June 2008: Google stock falls below $500 and keeps tumbling
Sources: Google, Times research
Google at 10 illustration: Brian Taylor / For The Times
Google scooter photo: Uwe Lein / Associated Press
Google founders photo: Paul Sakuma / Associated Press