<P> Google Inc. is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet - related services and products . These include online advertising technologies , search , cloud computing , software , and hardware . Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph. D. students at Stanford University , in California . Together , they own about 14 percent of its shares , and control 56 percent of the stockholder voting power through supervoting stock . They incorporated Google as a privately held company on September 4 , 1998 . An initial public offering ( IPO ) took place on August 19 , 2004 , and Google moved to its new headquarters in Mountain View , California , nicknamed the Googleplex . In August 2015 , Google announced plans to reorganize its various interests as a conglomerate called Alphabet Inc . Google , Alphabet 's leading subsidiary , will continue to be the umbrella company for Alphabet 's Internet interests . Upon completion of the restructure , Sundar Pichai was appointed CEO of Google ; he replaced Larry Page , who became CEO of Alphabet . </P>
who is the founder of google and when was it founded
1998 Larry Page and Sergey Brin