Winning Bizness Desk
Mumbai. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has achieved a historic milestone by crossing the $100 billion mark (about ₹9.06 lakh crore) in quarterly revenue for the first time in September 2025. CEO Sundar Pichai called it a “milestone quarter,” crediting the strong growth of Search, YouTube, and Cloud businesses. Just five years ago, Google’s quarterly revenue was half that figure, at $50 billion.
AI-powered products played a key role in this performance. Over 75 million daily users are now using Google’s AI features. Queries have doubled compared to last year, and more than 70% of existing customers now rely on Google’s AI products like Gemini. Cloud revenue jumped 34% to $15.16 billion, while YouTube ad revenue rose 15% to $10.26 billion. The company also plans to launch Gemini 3, its next-generation AI model, by December 2025.
The journey from a Stanford garage project to a $3 trillion empire can be seen in six parts—each marking a key turn in Google’s story.
From campus meeting to lifelong vision
In 1995, Larry Page from Michigan and Sergey Brin from Moscow met at Stanford University. Their first meeting wasn’t friendly, but their shared curiosity for technology turned them into close collaborators. Brin, the math genius, and Page, the machine lover, soon began exploring how to organize the growing chaos of the web.
Birth of the search idea and the Google name
Larry’s PhD project focused on creating a search engine that ranked pages by importance using backlinks. The two built an algorithm called PageRank and named the project “BackRub.” Later, inspired by the mathematical term “googol” (1 followed by 100 zeros), they coined the name “Google.” A spelling mistake turned it into the name we know today.
Funding and early bets from believers
In 1998, while operating from a garage, Larry and Sergey needed funds to expand. Most investors turned them down, but Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim wrote a $100,000 check. Angel investor Ram Shriram and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos followed with $250,000 each. This early faith laid the foundation for one of the world’s greatest tech companies.
Turning down Yahoo’s billion-dollar offer
In 2002, Yahoo offered to buy Google for $3 billion. Larry and Sergey believed their creation was worth more, countering with $5 billion. Talks failed, and they refused to sell. Their belief in Google’s long-term vision paid off when the company went public in 2004 at a $27 billion valuation. Today, Google’s market cap stands above $3 trillion.
Innovations that changed digital life
Google revolutionized email in 2004 with Gmail’s 1 GB free storage when others offered only a few MBs. Later came Google Maps and the Android acquisition in 2005, which made it the world’s leading mobile OS. The purchase of YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion made Google the global leader in online video.
A new era under Alphabet and Pichai
After health challenges in 2012, Larry Page and Sergey Brin restructured the company in 2015, creating Alphabet Inc. to manage multiple ventures. Sundar Pichai became CEO of Google, and later, in 2019, CEO of Alphabet as well. The founders stepped back, handing over the company to a new generation. Today, Alphabet leads in AI, cloud, and quantum computing—continuing the mission to organize the world’s information and make it accessible to all.
Summary in 7 short pointers:
- Alphabet crossed $100 billion (₹9.06 lakh crore) in quarterly revenue for the first time.
- AI features and Gemini boosted growth across Google’s core products.
- YouTube and Cloud divisions saw double-digit revenue growth.
- Larry Page and Sergey Brin started Google from a Stanford garage.
- The company rejected Yahoo’s $3 billion offer in 2002.
- Gmail, Maps, Android, and YouTube reshaped digital life.
- Alphabet now leads global tech innovation under Sundar Pichai.
