Larry Page (born Lawrence Page) is an American entrepreneur and computer scientist who co-founded Google Inc. with Sergey Brin, the search engine behemoth that provides a wide range of internet products and services. Google originated as an online search engine and has now evolved to include other internet-related services. Page’s passion with computers began at a young age as the son of computer specialists. He was always fascinated by technology, business, and innovation as a child. He met Sergey Brin while studying Computer Science at Stanford University, and with his help, he constructed a search engine that returned results based on relevance. In 1998, Page and Brin founded Google Inc. under the moniker ‘Google Inc.’ They were both co-presidents of Google until 2001, when Eric Schmidt was named Chairman and CEO. Page was named Google’s CEO in 2011, while Schmidt remains the company’s executive chairman. Page is also a member of the company’s Board of Directors. He is passionate about renewable energy and philanthropy. Google.org, the company’s charitable arm, was founded in 2004. It is primarily concerned with climate change and renewable energy.
Childhood and Adolescence
Larry Page was born in Michigan to Carl and Gloria Page. Both of his parents were professors of computer science. He was raised in a non-religious household.
His childhood household was filled with computers and science magazines, which piqued his interest in technology at a young age. He was also interested in business and creativity, and by the age of 12, he had decided to start his own firm. He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Michigan after graduating from East Lansing High School in 1991. Later, he enrolled at Stanford University for a master’s degree in computer science.
Google’s Inception and Expansion
In 1995, while working on a research project for his PhD at Stanford, he met fellow researcher Sergey Brin. By 1996, they had created a search engine named ‘BackRub.’ For some months, it was hosted on Stanford servers.
Page and Brin decided to turn their project into a corporation. Andy Bechtolsheim, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, was instrumental in the company’s funding, writing a $100,000 check to a corporation that had yet to be formed. The initiative, now known as ‘Google,’ was officially formed as a company in September 1998. In 2001, Eric Schmidt was named CEO, while Page and Brin were named presidents of products and technology, respectively.
Google released Google Desktop search and Orkut, a social networking service, in 2004. In the same year, Google launched its Initial Public Offering (IPO), making Page and Brin multimillionaires. Google.org, the company’s charitable arm, was established to help with social challenges and causes.
Larry Page at Google event. Source AP
Google had a very fruitful year in 2005. In that year, Google Maps, Blogger Mobile, Google Reader, and iGoogle were all released. The next year, Google purchased Youtube and added a chat feature to Gmail.
In 2007, Google formed a relationship with China Mobile and Salesforce.com. Thousands of students in Kenya and Rwanda will be able to use Google Apps for Education thanks to collaborations negotiated by the business.
Google released Google Sites and a new version of Google Earth in 2008. In the same year, Google Health, a personal health information centralized service, was created, however it was cancelled in 2011 after failing to achieve the expected impact. In January 2009, Picasa for Mac was released, followed by Google Latitude and the most recent version of Google Earth. In the same year, Google Ventures, a venture capital fund dedicated to assisting new technology startups, was launched. Aardvark and Picnik were purchased by Google in 2010. Customers can now manage cloud applications with ease thanks to the Google Apps Marketplace, a new online store for integrated business software. Larry Page was named CEO in January 2011. Eric Schmidt, the company’s former CEO, is still serving as Executive Chairman. Google bought Admeld and Zagat in order to give better services to its customers.
Major Projects of Larry Page
The founding of Google is Larry Page’s most notable achievement. Google, which was launched in 1998, is the world’s most popular search engine, with millions of users around the world. Apart from search, Google provides a variety of other products and services, such as Gmail, Blogger, Google Maps, and Picasa.
Google.org, the company’s charitable arm, was founded in 2004. The group is focused to developing technical solutions to alleviate global issues such as hunger and poverty.
Achievements & Awards
Page and Brin were selected among the top 100 innovators under the age of 35 in the globe by the MIT Technology Review TR100 in 2002.
Page was recognized a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 2002.
Page and Brin were awarded the coveted Marconi Foundation Prize for exceptional contributions to science and technology in 2004. They were also named Fellows of Columbia University’s Marconi Foundation.
Personal History and Legacy
In 2007, Larry Page married Lucinda Southworth, a researcher. They only have one child together.
Estimated Net Worth
Larry Page has a net worth of $39.1 billion, according to Forbes. According to Forbes, he is the 12th richest person in the world.
Trivia
Carrie Southworth, an actress and model, is his wife’s sister.
Despite enrolling in a PhD program at Stanford University, he was unable to complete it due to his commercial interests.
Carl Page Jr., his younger brother, is also an internet entrepreneur.