Founded: 1998

Founders: Larry Page and Sergey Brin

Incorporation: September 4, 1998

Initial public offering (NASDAQ): August 19, 2004

Current CEO: Sundar Pichai

Google LLC is a global technology company, founded in 1998, when Page and Brin built a search engine that used links to determine the importance of individual pages on the World Wide Web.

Today, the company employs approximately 170 000 people around the world and makes hundreds of products used by billions of people across the globe, from YouTube and Android to Gmail and Google Search.

Google’s mission is to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Google in South Africa:

Google established a country office in South Africa in 2007, as part of its focus on Africa.

Google South Africa employs over 100 people, and its headquarters are based in Johannesburg.

Kabelo Makwane has served as the country director for Google South Africa since January 2025.

Google’s mission in South Africa is to make the internet helpful to South Africans, and work together with its government, policymakers, educators, entrepreneurs, and businesses to shape the next wave of innovation in the country and on the African continent.