Timeline Description: Google was a company started by a couple of college kids with a big idea. It quickly caught on and grew into a successful and monstrous company, modeling the American dream.
Date | Event |
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1995 | The founders cross paths Larry Page and Sergey Brin were college students at Stanford University. They met and became friends when Brin was assigned to show Larry around campus. |
1996 | BackRub is born The two friends brainstormed ideas for a web engine that would make surfing the net easier and more efficient. They came up with an idea they called BackRub, but it failed after a year's trial. |
1997 | Perseverance Page and Brin didn't give up when BackRub failed. They continued their efforts, eventually registering a website called "Google", which would organize all the information on the internet. |
1998 | A successful year Throughout the year, Brin and Page had many successful happenings, including their first investor, Andy Bechtolsheim. They incorporated Google, and they hired their first employee while working out of a garage. |
December 1998 | A thumbs up from PC Magazine Google got a boost in advertising when PC Magazine reported they were excellent at finding relevant search material. Google was named a top 100 website for the year. |
1999 | Expansion Google's success continued growing at a very fast pace. They hired multiple employees throughout 1999, and were forced to move out of the garage space they'd been using and into a real work place. |
May 2000 | Google wins awards Google was awarded accolades by both users and experts. They were given the Webby Awards: Technical Achievement, and the People's Voice. |
May 2000 | Other languages Google's popularity spread around the globe. In May 2000, they released several versions of Google, including ten new languages. |
July 2001 | Google Images Google opened a new facet of the company with Google Images. It allowed users to search for pictures, and had over 250 million images to offer. |
February 2002 | Advertising on the web Companies had been using web advertising for a few years, but Google revamped their AdWords offering with a new advertising idea. They incorporated a cost-per-click pricing that allowed companies to earn money every time someone clicked an ad. |
2003 | Trying new things Google's expansion exploded at an unheard of rate. In 2003 they bought Blogger, a hugely successful platform; introduced Google Grants to help non-profit organizations; and started Google Print, which became Google Books. |
May 2004 | Google Anita Borg Scholarship Google wanted to continue giving back, so they opened the Google Anita Borg Scholarship. It gives scholarships to women who excel in computer sciences around the world. |
August 2004 | Stock goes public Google began offering stock shares to the public to be purchased on Wall Street. They initially offered over 19 million shares. |
2005 | Google Maps Google Maps was a way for people to take live satellite looks at various places around the world. They eventually added Google Earth which enhanced these capabilities. |
2006 | More expansion Google continued growing, adding applications for finance, calendars, hangouts, and analytics. They had a service for nearly anything a person could need on the internet. |
2007 | A great place to work Google was named one of the top places to work in the country. In an effort to do all they could for employees, they began the "gbikes" program, providing bicycles for a healthy, efficient way for their employees to come to work. |
2008 | Android phones and more(2008 and beyond) Google has continued to explode with success. They unveiled the apps compatible with the Android phones, as well as Google Chrome, and had over 1 billion active devices in 2013. |