Who is behind Google?
Shows documented founders, leaders, board members, funders and owners.
Not who made decisions, or why.
A connection is not evidence of wrongdoing.
- Led by Larry Page Sep 1998 – Jul 2001
- Led by Sergey Brin Sep 1998 – Jul 2001
- Led by Eric Schmidt Mar 2001 – Apr 2004
- Led by Eric Schmidt Jul 2001 – Apr 2011
- Led by Larry Page (President, Products) Jul 2001 – Apr 2011
- Led by Eric Schmidt Apr 2007 – Apr 2011
- Led by Eric Schmidt (Executive Chairman) Apr 2011 – Oct 2015
- Led by Larry Page 4 Apr 2011 – Oct 2015
On the record
Sourced links that no one presents as their own account, as recorded so far. Others may exist.
Founded by
- Larry Page founded Sep 1998 Primary record 1
- Sergey Brin founded Sep 1998 Primary record 1
Led by
- Larry Page CEO of Sep 1998 – Jul 2001 Primary record 2
- Sergey Brin chair of Sep 1998 – Jul 2001 Primary record 3
- Eric Schmidt chair of Mar 2001 – Apr 2004 Primary record 2
- Eric Schmidt CEO of Jul 2001 – Apr 2011 Primary record 23
- Larry Page head of Jul 2001 – Apr 2011 President, Products Primary record 4
- Eric Schmidt chair of Apr 2007 – Apr 2011 Primary record 3
- Eric Schmidt chair of Apr 2011 – Oct 2015 Executive Chairman Primary record 35
- Larry Page CEO of 4 Apr 2011 – Oct 2015 Primary record 45
Board
- Larry Page board member of Sep 1998 Primary record 2
- John Doerr board member of May 1999 Primary record 2
- Michael Moritz board member of May 1999 Primary record 12
-
John Doerr
board member of
Jun 1999
Primary record
1
Director from June 1999.
- Eric Schmidt board member of Mar 2001 Primary record 3
- Arthur Levinson board member of Apr 2004 Primary record 2
- John Hennessy board member of Apr 2004 Primary record 2
- Paul Otellini board member of Apr 2004 Primary record 2
Money in
- Andy Bechtolsheim invested in Aug 1998 $100,000 Primary record 16
- Kleiner Perkins invested in Jun 1999 co-led a $25 million round with Sequoia Capital Primary record 1
- Sequoia Capital invested in Jun 1999 co-led a $25 million round with Kleiner Perkins Primary record 1
- Eric Schmidt invested in 13 Jul 2001 Series C preferred stock, $999994.51 Primary record 2
- Ram Shriram invested in Primary record 1
- Stanford University invested in Primary record 1
Owners
-
Eric Schmidt
owns a stake in
30 Jun 2004
6.1%, 14,758,600 shares, as of 30 Jun 2004
Primary record
7
Before the 2004 IPO; percent of Class B common stock.
-
Kleiner Perkins
owns a stake in
30 Jun 2004
8.7%, 21,043,711 shares, as of 30 Jun 2004
Primary record
7
Before the 2004 IPO; percent of Class B common stock.
-
Larry Page
owns a stake in
30 Jun 2004
16%, 38,593,200 shares, as of 30 Jun 2004
Primary record
7
Before the 2004 IPO; percent of Class B common stock.
-
Sequoia Capital
owns a stake in
30 Jun 2004
9.9%, 23,893,800 shares, as of 30 Jun 2004
Primary record
7
Before the 2004 IPO; percent of Class B common stock.
-
Sergey Brin
owns a stake in
30 Jun 2004
15.9%, 38,489,048 shares, as of 30 Jun 2004
Primary record
7
Before the 2004 IPO; percent of Class B common stock.
Proof 7 sources
-
Google Receives $25 Million in Equity Funding, Google, 7 Jun 1999.
Primary record
Google was founded in September 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, building on three years of research as computer science Ph.D. candidates at Stanford University.
Google also announced that Michael Moritz, general partner of Sequoia Capital, and John Doerr, general partner of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers, have joined its board of directors.
Other investors include Stanford University; Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and current Vice President at Cisco Systems; and Ram Shriram, former President of Junglee and current Vice President of Business Development at Amazon.com.
today announced it has completed a $25 million round of equity funding led by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
-
Google Inc. registration statement (Form S-1), 29 April 2004, Google, 29 Apr 2004.
Primary record
From September 1998 to July 2001, Larry served as our Chief Executive Officer and from September 1998 to July 2002 as our Chief Financial Officer.
Eric Schmidt has served as our Chief Executive Officer since July 2001 and served as Chairman of our board of directors from March 2001 to April 2004.
Larry Page, one of our founders, has served as a member of our board of directors since our inception in September 1998 and as our President of Products since July 2001.
L. John Doerr has served as a member of our board of directors since May 1999.
Michael Moritz has served as a member of our board of directors since May 1999. Michael has been a General Partner of Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm, since 1986.
Arthur D. Levinson has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2004.
John L. Hennessy has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2004. Since September 2000, John has served as the President of Stanford University.
Paul S. Otellini has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2004.
Eric was also granted an option to purchase 14,331,708 shares of Class B common stock at an exercise price of $0.30 per share pursuant to this agreement and was permitted to purchase 426,892 shares of Series C preferred stock at a purchase price of $2.3425 per share.
-
Alphabet Inc. proxy statement (DEF 14A), 27 April 2018, Alphabet, 27 Apr 2018.
Primary record
In addition, from September 1998 to July 2001, Sergey served as Google’s President and Chairman of Google’s Board of Directors.
From July 2001 to April 2011, Eric served as Google’s Chief Executive Officer. He was the chairman of Google’s board of directors from March 2001 to April 2004, and again from April 2007 to April 2011.
Eric E. Schmidt, Technical Advisor of Alphabet, has served as a member of our Board of Directors since March 2001, and as Executive Chairman of our Board of Directors from April 2011 to January 2018.
-
Alphabet Inc. proxy statement (DEF 14A), 24 April 2026, Alphabet, 24 Apr 2026.
Primary record
From July 2001 to April 2011, Larry served as Google’s President, Products.
Larry Page, 53, one of Google’s Co-Founders, previously served as Google’s Chief Executive Officer from April 2011 to October 2015, and as Alphabet’s Chief Executive Officer from October 2015 to December 2019.
-
An update from the Chairman, Google, 20 Jan 2011.
Primary record
As Executive Chairman, I will focus wherever I can add the greatest value
Larry will now lead product development and technology strategy, his greatest strengths, and starting from April 4 he will take charge of our day-to-day operations as Google’s Chief Executive Officer.
-
From the garage to the Googleplex, Google.
Primary record
In August 1998, Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim wrote Larry and Sergey a check for $100,000, and Google Inc. was officially born. With this investment, the newly incorporated team made the upgrade from the dorms to their first office
-
Google Inc. IPO prospectus (Form 424B4), 19 August 2004, Google, 19 Aug 2004.
Primary record
Applicable percentage ownership is based on 12,359,204 shares of Class A common stock and 241,956,117 shares of Class B common stock outstanding at June 30, 2004
How this answer is built
Lines on the record come first: sourced links that no one presents as their own account, each with its strongest source. Then every account recorded here gets its own column, A to Z, none ranked above another. A column quotes only that account's own words and shows the strength of its own sources. Disputed lines are listed apart, with the reason, and lines still being verified come last. Neither is counted. Withdrawn lines are never shown.
When a list is longer than the page shows, the links the public methodology ranks strongest stay (methodology 0.3), and the rest open in the explorer.
Know a source we are missing? Propose it with a pull request to content/entities/org/go/google.md.