On September 4, 1998, Google’s honchos decided to incorporate their company as a business. The application was accepted three days later. That means that as of this moment, Google is only ten years old. This is a drop in the bucket regarding age, since a corporation can continue operating till hell freezes. General Electric is a good example of a company that has been going on and on like the Energizer bunny.
In only ten years, Google has morphed into the largest corporation in the search and Internet advertising fields. It towers high above Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask. Its rise to power is similar to that of Microsoft, which in a very short time, conquered the world of the operating systems with Windows and the office productivity suites with Microsoft Office.
Many computer experts believe Google will dominate the next era of computing as thoroughly as Microsoft dominated the era of personal computers.
How does Google at 10, contrasts with its fieriest competitor—Microsoft? Let’s take a look at some statistics provided by Miguel Helft at Bits technology column of The New York Times;
- Age: Google 10, Microsoft 33
- Revenue in the last 4 quarters: Google $19.6 billion, Microsoft $60.4 billion
- Microsoft’s revenue at age 10: $140 million ($279 million in today’s dollars)
- Revenue per hour in the last 4 quarters: Google $2.2 million, Microsoft $6.9 million
- Net income in the last 4 quarters: Google $4.85 billion, Microsoft $17.6 billion
- Number of employees: Google, as of June 30th: 19,604 employees, Microsoft as of May 31st: 89,809 employees
- Revenue per employee: Google $1 million, Microsoft $672,000
- Market Value: Google $142 billion, Microsoft $241 billion
- Number of tech companies with a market value larger than Google’s: three (Microsoft, I.B.M. and Apple, in that order)
- Worldwide searches in July: Google 48.7 billion, Microsoft 2.3 billion
- Worldwide searches per hour in July: Google 65 million, Microsoft 3.1 million
Sooner of later these two titans will clash head to head. It would be an interesting business administration case to study. Both camps have a lot of artillery and dry powder to shoot at each other. Good Day!
Source: Google at Age 10 by Miguel Helft – The New York Times
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