Internet Institution Case Study

Google

Who owns the site?
Sergey M. BrinLawrence E. Page

What other internet sites do they own?
YouTube, Blogger, Google Earth, Double Click and Grand Central

What is its revenue?
$ 21.796 billion

What is its overall worth?
$60 billion

Key facts about institution
· It was founded in Menlo Park, California (September 4, 1998)
· The site is served worldwide
· Google has begun experimenting with other markets, such as radio and print publications.
· 99% of Google's revenue is derived from its advertising programs
· Google has also developed several desktop applications, including Google Desktop, Picasa, Sketch Up and Google Earth.

Three quotes about Google by founder, Sergey Brin

1. “Google actually relies on our users to help with our marketing. We have a very high percentage of our users who often tell others about our search engine”

2. “Some say Google is God. Others say Google is Satan. But if they think Google is too powerful, remember that with search engines unlike other companies, all it takes is a single click to go to another search engine”

3. “As we go forward, I hope we're going to continue to use technology to make really big differences in how people live and work”
(http://www.woopidoo.com/business_quotes/authors/sergey-brin-quotes.htm)

The Birth of Google:

- One person who had heard of Page and Brin's work was Cornell professor Jon Kleinberg, then researching bibliometrics and search technologies at IBM's Almaden center in San Jose.

- In the summer of 1997, Kleinberg visited Page at Stanford to compare notes. Kleinberg had completed an early draft of his seminal paper, "Authoritative Sources," and Page showed him an early working version of Google.

- Page told Kleinberg that he was wary of publishing. The reason? "He was concerned that someone might steal his ideas, and with PageRank, Page felt like he had the secret formula,".

- On the other hand, Page and Brin weren't sure they wanted to go through the travails of starting and running a company.

- Brin remembers speaking with his adviser, who told him, "Look, if this Google thing pans out, then great. If not, you can return to graduate school and finish your thesis." He chuckles, then adds: "I said, 'Yeah, OK, why not? I'll just give it a try.'"



Google Buys Company To Expand Into Radio:



- Google Inc. agreed yesterday to buy a radio advertising company in a further effort to extend its targeted-advertising technology beyond the Internet.



- The Internet search giant, which has already tested its advertising expertise in print media, bought dMarc Broadcasting Inc., a Newport Beach, Calif., company, for $102 million in cash.



- "Google is committed to exploring new ways to extend targeted, measurable advertising to other forms of media," Tim Armstrong, vice president of Google's advertising sales, said in a statement.



- "It's a way for Google to more effectively get into the media-planning stage of advertisers, and it may make it easier for advertisers to think about the Internet," Fratrik said.



- Google was spending so heavily on traditional media when the growth potential online remains strong.