There would probably be millions of articles on the web about Google, one of the most respected web companies in the world. We too have more than a hundred posts on this web site! Though Google started as a search engine with a simplistic and plain homepage, they expanded into several different fields including self-driving cars!
What separated Google from others is that they held on to their core beliefs and kept innovating at a tremendous pace. And they’ve had their share of successes (for example, the Chrome web browser, Gmail email service etc.) and failures (Orkut social networking comes to mind immediately).
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Here are a few rare facts about Google you probably didn’t know. Enjoy, and as always, let us know what you think.
Google had only 26 million pages when it began
When launched in 1998, Google had only 26 million pages in its index. The search engine used just 40GB of storage (ten 4 GB hard drives encased in a Lego/Duplo tower). At the time of writing, the database has now grown to 60 trillion pages!
FYI, the primary colors used in the Google logo were probably inspired from the colors of the building blocks used to make the tower that housed the original hard disks.
Received funding before the company was formed
The first funding was from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. He wrote a check for $100,000 in the name of Google. Though extremely enthusiastic, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were flummoxed because they hadn’t formed the company yet and so there was no way to cash the check.
When is Google’s birthday?
Incorporated on 4th September 1998, it seems weird that Google has celebrated its birthday on four different dates! Here is the list which will probably make things a little clear.
- 27th September 2002: Their first birthday doodle appeared celebrating their fourth birthday. Since then the company has always celebrated its birthday with a Doodle but these have appeared at different dates!
- 8th September2003: fifth birthday doodle.
- 7th September 2004: 6th birthday doodle.
- 26th of September 2005: the seventh birthday doodle.
Since 2006, Google has reverted to the date on which they put their first birthday doodle – 27 September. No one knows for sure why this particular date has been chosen as the birthday because the company was incorporated in the 4th of the month.
The owner of the house in which Google started is now the CEO of YouTube
Google came out of co-founder Larry Page’s PhD project called BackRub at Stanford University. After teaming up with Sergey Brin, the two rented a house in Menlo Park about 2 miles from the university and set up their office in the garage.
The house was owned by Susan Wojcicki who was a business management graduate. She later applied for a job and became Google’s first marketing manager. At the time of writing, she the CEO of YouTube!
Google shares and the square root of 2
Google launched their IPO (Initial Public Offering) on the 19th of August 2004. The price was set to $85 per share and the first trade took place at 11:56 EST. In the letter for the company’s securities registration form, the two founders wrote, “Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.“
This was quite apt because the number of shares floated on that day was 14,142,135. If you’ve done a little bit of maths in school you’ll recognise this number as the square root of 2!
Trust Larry Page and Sergey Brin to be geeks forever!
Let us know what you think about these or if you know of a rare fact about Google that we have left.
