Google

Google got its own URL on Sept. 15, 1997, and less than a year later,
it became a full-fledged corporation.

On Sept. 7, 1998 officially formed the for-profit enterprise that has revolutionized
Internet search, online advertising, and the modern information
landscape.

Inventors are Sergei Brin and Larry Page.

The investor was Andy Bechtolsheim, gave first $100,000 of investment cash.

By the end of 1998, Google’s algorithm had generated an index of 60 million pages. A year later, the company had leased space in Mountain View, CA at 1600 Amphitheater Way — an address that today is known as the original Googleplex.

Google has been profitable every year since 2001, and when the company filed its unconventional initial public offering in 2004, it generated over $1.6 billion and resulted in a market capitalization for Google valued at over $23 billion. (Ironically, Yahoo! was one of the pre-IPO investors in Google, with an equity stake that is now equal to 2.7 million shares.)

How successful is Google? The company’s name is now a verb — to the point it must defend its trademark from genericide – as recognized by Merriam-Webster’s and the Oxford English dictionaries.