Google marked its 27th birthday on September 27, 2025, with a special homepage Doodle that revived its original 1998 logo, creating a nostalgic throwback for millions of users worldwide. Despite being incorporated on September 4, 1998, the company celebrates its birthday later in the month a decision that reflects both company milestones and branding strategy.
Search Giant Origins
Google was officially incorporated on September 4, 1998, in Menlo Park, California, by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Stanford PhD students who had earlier developed a search engine called Backrub as a research project. The September 27 “birthday” tradition began in the mid-2000s, when Google chose to tie its public celebration to a record-setting day for indexing webpages an achievement that solidified its status as the internet’s premier search engine. Earlier birthday celebrations ranged across September, but since 2006, September 27 has been the consistent date, often marked by a commemorative Doodle.
From Garage Startup to Global Powerhouse
After receiving a $100,000 investment from Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim, Page and Brin rented a garage in Menlo Park from Susan Wojcicki, who would later become YouTube CEO. The pair transformed the space into their first headquarters, featuring basic computer equipment and a signature blue carpet a symbol of their humble beginnings and creative energy. By 1999, Google had outgrown the garage and moved to a larger office in Palo Alto, continuing its rapid expansion into a global enterprise.
Brand Name Story and Alphabet Transition
Google’s name itself is rooted in a playful mishap a misspelling of “googol,” the mathematical term for 10^100, reflecting the ambition to organize vast information. The iconic branding emerged as the Stanford founders and collaborators searched for domain availability, ultimately settling on “Google.com”. In a pivotal 2015 move, Google restructured its corporate holdings under Alphabet Inc., with Google as a subsidiary, to enable greater transparency and operational flexibility across a burgeoning portfolio that now spans search, cloud, mobile, and AI platforms.
Mission, Influence, and Industry Impact
Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s original mission statement “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” remains integral to the company’s culture and ongoing innovations. Sundar Pichai currently serves as CEO of both Google and Alphabet, continuing the founders’ legacy, while they maintain voting control through special shares.
Google’s product suite, from its core search engine to widely used services like Gmail, Google Drive, YouTube, and AI tools like Gemini, has transformed daily life and redefined how billions interact with technology.
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