Google is a prominent American search engine company founded in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Since 2015, Google has been a subsidiary of the holding company Alphabet, Inc. Google handles more than 70% of worldwide online search requests. Its headquarters are in Mountain View, California.
While Google originally started as an online search firm, it now offers over 50 internet services and products, ranging from email and online document creation to software for mobile phones and tablet computers. With its 2012 acquisition of Motorola Mobility, Google also ventured into selling hardware such as mobile phones. Google is considered one of the top four influential companies in the high-tech marketplace, alongside Apple, IBM, and Microsoft. Despite its diverse product portfolio, Google’s original search tool remains at the core of its success. In 2016, Alphabet earned nearly all of its revenue from Google advertising based on users’ search requests.