Google, @ 10 years, is looking for more

Ten years ago this coming September, two Stanford University doctoral students -- one of them a Michigan native -- launched a business that would revolutionize how millions of people use the Internet.

Yes, Google is getting older, at least in tech years.

But don't expect the world's dominant search engine company to remain content with the enormous success it has achieved so far.

Google is rolling out innovative features that will allow users to search the Web more efficiently. It is also looking to expand its advertising reach, focusing on the folks who do their queries via mobile phones and car-based systems. Google has been increasing its spending on research and development, which totaled $2.1 billion last year alone.

The company has come a long way since Sergey Brin and Michigan native Larry Page started Google in a garage in Menlo Park, Calif. One of the most feared and respected technology giants in the world, Google earned $4.2 billion in profits last year and employs nearly 17,000 workers, including more than 262 at ad sales and support offices in Ann Arbor and Birmingham.More>>

Google founders have grown up

It's official: the guys who founded Google are grown up.

That was the pronouncement on Thursday from Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, who was hired in 2001 to provide mature, traditional business savvy to the Internet search company founded by whiz kids Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

"The boys have grown up," Schmidt told a news conference ahead of the wildly successful company's annual meeting.

Now billionaires, the two who formed the company, which has the motto "Don't Be Evil," were seen as "brilliant young founders," Schmidt said.

"They now function in the company as the senior executives with the kind of skills and experience --"

"-- We wish he had five years ago," Page said, finishing Schmidt's thought.

Page, 35, and Brin, who was born in the Soviet Union 34 years ago, made history in their 20s when they set up the Google search engine.More>>

Top Google executives pledge to work together for 20 years

Google Inc's top three executives had pledged to work together for 20 years in a pact they made shortly before the company's initial public offering in August 2004, Fortune magazine has reported.

Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, together with Chief Executive Eric Schmidt say in a joint interview for Fortune's February 4th issue that the three had agreed to work together for two decades starting one month before the 2004 IPO.

"We agreed the month before we went public that we should work together for 20 years," said Schmidt, who added that he will be 69 years old by that time. Page would be 51 and Brin 50.

A Google spokesman could not immediately be reached to comment.

Schmidt is Google's chairman. Page is president of products and Brin is president of technology. Each is a billionaire.

With a market capitalization now around $170 billion, the world's most valuable Internet company is scheduled to report results for the final quarter of 2007 on Thursday.

Wall Street expects Google to report 2007 revenue around $16.6 billion, an increase of 57 per cent over the prior year.

Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, Sergey Brin - #1 in The 50 Who Matter Now from CNNMoney.com

Why they matter: For consumers, Google is one of the world's most beloved companies. For competitors, it's a force to be feared. The task of maintaining that balance of love and fear falls to the triumvirate of Schmidt, Page, and Brin. The trio has steered Google past $10 billion in revenue with nary a financial hiccup -- and with profit still growing an average of 40 percent every quarter, they've more than earned their place at the top of this list.

But what makes Schmidt, Page, and Brin really matter is the fact that they seem determined to disrupt every digital business in existence, from software to video to telecommunications. When Google eyes a new market, it always tries to change the rules of the game.More>>