If everything had gone as planned, we wouldn’t be “googling” today, but “backrubbing”. Because when the two Stanford students Sergey Brin and Larry Page started to develop a search engine for the Internet, they gave it the name “Backrub” (back massage). With this, the two wanted to point out, somewhat cryptically, that hits are more relevant if there are more links (“backlinks”) for them.
In search of a more catchy name, legend has it that a roommate suggested the term “Googol” (details in the box). The wrong spelling “Google” was entered in the search for available domain names, i.e. Internet addresses. That was the birth of “www.google.com”, one of the most famous addresses in the world, 25 years ago.
Internet search services existed before Google: but with the registration of the domain and the founding of the company in 1998 (in a garage), Internet research was raised to a new level. For many, “Googling” has become synonymous with Internet searches. The landlady of the garage, Susan Wojcicki, is now the managing director of the video subsidiary YouTube. The goal of Brin and Page: to organize and make all information in the world accessible.
The two withdrew from the day-to-day business of Google and its parent Alphabet in 2019, both companies are managed by Sundar Pichai. Born in India, he now runs a company with sales of 257 billion dollars. The company earned $61 billion from advertising.
Numerous lawsuits pending
However, a rough wind is also blowing against Google and Alphabet: Like other American tech heavyweights, the Internet giant is under political pressure. Google has also been targeted by the EU competition authorities. Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has already cracked down three times, imposing fines totaling $8.23 billion, including for unfair competition. Yesterday it became known that the group is threatened with claims for damages of up to 25 billion euros due to its digital advertising practices.
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Source: Nachrichten
