Google celebrates 23rd birthday.
Almost every user in the world got acquainted with the Internet with Google. The words "google", "google", "google for help" have become an integral part of our daily life. On September 27, Google celebrates its 23rd birthday. Such a special day is an occasion to remember (and maybe even learn for the first time) the most interesting facts about Google.
1. Googol hails from the garage
Back in 1996, two Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed their own search engine. At first it was called BackRub, and two years later it was named Google. By the way, this word comes from the distorted googol (googol) - the name of the number ten to the hundredth power. The company's first office was a garage, and the entire search engine algorithm was stored on ten 4GB hard drives.
2. Education is not the main thing!
When hiring new hires, Google doesn't look at college degrees. They believe that grades and scores mean nothing. Therefore, the company employs a lot of self-taught specialists who did not graduate from college. By the way, about the peculiarities of personnel management in the company. If a Google employee dies, his family members receive half of the deceased's salary for another 10 years.
3. But everything could be different
In 1999, Page and Brin wanted to sell the search engine, as work on it interfered with their research activities. But Excite refused to buy Google for $ 1 million. At the beginning of last year, the market capitalization of Alphabet (the company that owns Google) reached $ 1 trillion.
4. "Oblique" Google
Few people know that if you type in the English word "Askew" (in translation - "oblique") in the search, then the search results page will be a little oblique.
5. "How to open a jar of kilka with two spoons and a slipper"
Google processes 2 million searches every minute. It would seem that people have already asked about everything that they did not know. Nevertheless, he sees 16% of requests that a search engine processes per day for the first time.
6. April Fool's joke
The Google Gmail mail service was launched on April 1, 2004. Therefore, many took it as an April Fool's joke. Still, after all, a whole gigabyte of data could be stored on new mail, while in other services - several megabytes.
7. Everybody Google!
There can be no doubt about this. Google is the most visited site in the world. In second place - Facebook, in third - Youtube (which belongs to the same Google).
8. Google will provide eternal youth
In 2013, the search engine founded Calico, an aging research company. The company's goal is to conquer old age. Well, we hope she succeeds.
9. Old acquaintances
The woman who rented out the garage to Page and Brin during their college days is now the head of YouTube (Susan Wojitski).
10. A good employee has a good rest
Google knows a great way to keep good employees. If a person is temporarily out of work, he is sent on indefinite leave, while continuing to pay the entire salary. This is done so that the employee does not leave for another company.
11. "Don't be angry"
The corporate motto of the company is “Don't be evil”. This phrase was not chosen by chance, since Google considers peace and quiet in the team, avoidance of conflicts and complete objectivity in any situation to be very important. The motto was chosen back in 2000. True, a year ago, due to restructuring, the official motto of Alphabet was “Do the right thing”. But the original motto is still used internally by Google.
12. Google employs goats
Yes, a whole herd of 200 goats. The fact is that the company owns a large piece of land. To combat weeds and grass on it, Google occasionally hires a herd of goats. This service is not cheaper than maintaining a staff of lawn mowers. But goats are much more environmentally friendly than lawn mowers, they are sure of the company.
13. Big deals are made in a pizzeria
The YouTube purchase, one of the most important deals in history for Google, was made at Denny's, a small pizzeria in Palo Alto. After a while, there were even eyewitnesses who claimed that the negotiators ate pizza and cheese sticks.
14. Googlesucks.com
The company owns the domain googlesucks.com (literally “Google sucks”). Just so no one else can buy it.
15. Endless shopping
Google continues to develop and expand tirelessly, including through acquisitions of new companies and investing in startups. On average, Google acquires one business per week.
