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Google
Headquarters:
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Employees: 47,756
CEO: Larry Page
Stock Symbol: GOOG
Website: http://www.google.com
Google operates the leading search engine for the Internet with a 67.3% market share of all Internet searches according to research firm Comscore. Google lets users search billions of web pages quickly and easily.
Google earns revenue almost entirely from advertising along its search results and ads place on websites. The company offers Adwords, a self-service tool which lets users bid on ads based on keywords and pay a per click fee.
The company also offers an affiliate program called Adsense where online publishers can run text and graphic ads on their sites and share revenue generated per click or page view. Tens of thousands of websites participate in Adsense allowing them to earn money from Google ads. The company said advertising placed on Adsense sites made up one-third of company revenue. Google pays out 68% of revenue from ads clicked to publishers.
Google is seeing strong growth on mobile ads as more people use smartphones and tablets for searches.
In addition to web search, Google offers the ability to search photos, shopping sites, satellite mapping, blogs, free e-mail and more.
Google has developed its own Internet browser called Chrome and its own software for smart phones known as Android. Several phone manufacturers have built smartphones and tablet computers with Google's Android software and has become the leading platform for smartphones globally.
YouTube, the Internet's leading site for video and a Google subsidiary, has over 1 billion visitors per month.
For 2013, Google reported record revenues of $59.8 billion, up from $50.17 billion. Net income was $12.92 billion.
On a worldwide basis, the company said it had 47,756 full-time employees (43,862 in Google and 3,894 in Motorola Mobile) as of December 31, 2013.
Google announced plans to sell its Motorola Mobility division to Lenovo for $2.91 billion in 2013 after buying it in 2011 for $12.5 billion.
In January, Google announced it would buy Nest, a maker of programmable thermostats, for $3.2 billion.
Google was ranked The Best Company to Work for in America by Fortune magazine for 2014 and also the most desirable employer for college students.
History
Google was founded in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, two computer science graduate students from Stanford.
Google is a play on the word googol, which was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, and was popularized in the book, Mathematics and the Imagination by Kasner and James Newman. It refers to the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. Google's use of the term reflects the company's mission to organize the immense, seemingly infinite amount of information available on the web.
The Google search engine offered great technology but the company wasn't earning any money until 2000 when it introduced Adwords, a self-service program to let users buy advertising along search results. Ads were text-based and would show up along keyword results. In 2002, Google revamped Adwords to allow users to pay on a cost-per-click basis. The price of ads would depend on the popularity and demand from bidders per keyword.
In 2003, Google launched Adsense, a program that allows other websites to syndicate ads from Google on their site. Now, thousands of websites run ads from Google and receive a percentage of the cost-per-click.
The company went public in August 2004 in a highly anticipated, Dutch- auction IPO.
Google acquired YouTube in 2006, a web site that lets users view and upload thousands of video clips, for $1.65 billion in stock. It also bought Internet advertising company DoubleClick for $3.1 billion.
Google acquired Motorola Mobility, maker of cellphones and tablets, for $12.5 billion in 2011.
In 2013, Google acquired traffic app Waze for over $1 billion.
Benefits
Google is known for providing great benefits including free breakfast, lunch and dinner at headquarters provided by gourmet chefs. Employees who live in San Francisco and East Bay can get a free shuttle bus to work equipped with Wi-Fi.
The following are benefits for California employees:
Health Care
Google's benefit package includes Benefits Alliance medical insurance which allows you to enroll in one of the plans listed below.
HMO health care premiums are 100% paid for employee. Same sex domestic partner coverage is also available. Most benefits are effective on your date of hire.
| Medical Insurance: | • Blue Shield PPO or HMO • Cigna PPO or HMO • Kaiser HMO |
| Dental Insurance: | • Delta Dental (comprehensive dental care; 100% preventative care coverage) |
| Vision Insurance: | • VSP (exam, lenses and frames once every year.) |
Stock Program
New hire employees will be recommended to be granted an option to purchase shares of Google stock. Your option price will be based upon the fair market value as determined by the Board of Directors on the date of grant.
Vacation
| Year: | 1st 15 days |
4th 20 days |
6th 25 days |
Holidays
| 10 paid holidays |
| Sick days taken as necessary |
| Past company outings have included all-staff ski and summer picnic. |
Pre-Tax Savings Program
| 401(k) Plan through Vanguard: | • | Employee contributes with a Google match up to $2200 per year. |
| • | 14 investment options available. | |
| • | 529 College Savings Investment Plan. | |
| Flex Spending Account Plan |
• | Includes Health Spending Account, Dependent Care Account, and a Qualified Transportation Benefit. |
| Post-Tax Savings Program 529 College Savings Plan |
• | This plan provides employees with a way to save money for post-secondary education. |
Income Protection
| Group Life Insurance: | • | Automatic coverage for 2 times annual salary. |
| Short Term Disability Insurance: |
• | Coverage provided at 75% of salary beginning on the 6th day of your disability. |
| Long Term Disability Insurance: |
• | Coverage provided at 66 2/3% of salary after 90 days. |
| Voluntary Life Insurance: | • | Option to purchase additional life insurance. |
Concern
| Employee Assistance
Program: |
• | Confidential counseling & referral service for employees and eligible dependents. |
| • | Legal counsel for common legal issues. |
Other Great Benefits
| Healthy lunches:*** | • | Employees enjoy free lunch 5 days per week. |
| • | Plus breakfast food and all the snacks you can eat! | |
| Massage & gym:*** | • | Working hard? Experienced massage therapists on site will melt your stress. |
| • | Workout in the gym and enjoy a relaxing sauna all within the Googleplex. | |
| Activities:*** | • | All Googlers are invited to participate in weekly roller hockey games, bike rides, and walks in the wildlife preserve next door. There's also a grand piano in the lobby open to all. |
| • | Employees receive free 1 hour passes to enjoy rock climbing or gymnastics at Twisters Gym located in Mountain View. | |
| Maternity leave: | • | 12 weeks off at 75% pay (this time includes disability leave), provided you've been an active employee for 60 days. Plus $500 of take-out meals at Google's expense for the first 4 weeks that you're home with your new baby. |
| Parental Leave (for non-primary caregivers): |
• | 2 weeks off at 100% pay when your spouse or domestic partner has a baby, provided you've been an active employee for 60 days. Plus $500 of take-out meals at Google's expense for the first 4 weeks that you're home with your new baby. |
| Adoption Policy | • | Google will now assist our employees by offering financial assistance in the adoption of a child. We'll reimburse you up to $5,000 to use towards legal expenses, adoption agencies or other adoption professional fees. Parental leave and waiters-on-wheels benefit may also apply. |
| Tuition Reimbursement | • | We offer reimbursement for college expenses incurred in pursuit of a degree that is relevant to your current job of up to $5000 per year. You must receive grades of B or better. |
| Employee Referral Program |
• | Google will award you a $2000.00 bonus if your referral accepts our offer and remains employed for at least 60 days, provided that you are an active employee. |
| On-site doctor:*** | • | At Google you have the convenience of seeing a doctor on-site. |
| On-site dental:*** | • | On-site Dental Care brings state-of-the-art dentistry to a nearby parking lot on a regular basis. |
***These benefits do not apply to the Newport and Santa Monica offices.
Updated February 9, 2014