emiliano ponzi
Location: Mountain View, Calif.
Industry: Information Technology
Annual Sales: $16.6 billion
It hasn’t exactly created a legion of imitators. If anything, Google’s crushing dominance of online search—generating 3,000 queries per second in the U.S. alone—has made rivals look sickly in comparison. Users can search in 119 languages, including Klingon (from Star Trek). Its democratization of information even took a nefarious turn as Indian authorities say terrorists used Google Earth to map out the recent attack on Mumbai. But its most profound influence is over the way people think and how companies respond. Media and advertising giants are struggling to adapt to a world ruled by Google. Why shovel big bucks into traditional ads when it lets you reach the right person for pennies a click?
Consider that 10 years ago Google (GOOG) consisted of Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and an idea. Now it employs more than 20,000 of the brightest thinkers on the planet. Their goal: transform the world. It’s taking on everything from TV to cell-phone design. Success comes not through marketing but through simplicity and reliability. Google is easy and it works.
Washington Clout
That influence extends to a unique management style, which includes letting technical people spend 20% of their time on projects of their own choosing. Although Google is starting to trim some of the more esoteric ventures, it remains a benchmark for innovations in human relations and finance as well as technology.
It’s also wielding clout in Washington. It successfully pushed the Federal Communications Commission to open up the airwaves to new mobile devices and Internet services. But Washington has also fought back, forcing Google to drop a deal with Yahoo! amid the threat of an antitrust suit. That won’t stop Google. “They’re going to be a brand in our everyday lives,” says Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of the blog Search Engine Land. Many would say it already is.
