The search giant celebrated its 11th birthday on September 27—and its 10th birthday on September 2 last year. Are they so unsure when it was born?
Astrologers will argue about the right birth time that they use to draw a chart. Is it the time when the baby emerges from the womb or the time the umbilical cord is cut? Arguments will always be there, and one astrologer's word is as good as another's, especially if both are highly experienced.
With Google, we seem to have another problem—the date itself. When was the company created, and when can we celebrate its birthday? Nobody seems to know, not even the company itself.
Some possibilities
One birthday that we can take is the date the site google.com was registered. According to WHOIS information, this happened on September 15, 1997—and by this reckoning, it is already over twelve years old.
We could also look at the date the company was registered, and Wikipedia says that this happened on September 4, 1998, in California. Wikipedia gives a link to the California Business Portal, which says that a request to form a company called 'GOOGLE TECHNOLOGY INC.' (Number: C2119530) was filed on September 4, 1998 and lists the 'Agent for Service of Process' as 'DAVID C DRUMMOND'. Just for the record, today, Google's site says that David C Drummond is a senior VP for corporate development and chief legal officer with the company.
Check the cheque
One nice day on which Google could celebrate its birthday is the day they deposited their first cheque. Let's face it, just as the first dollar (or rupee) you made is important to you, the first cheque that a company gets is important to them.
The first cheque in this case was worth $1 lakh and given to Larry Page and Sergey Brin by Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim in August 1998. The cheque was made out to a company called Google Inc and was deposited in September after the company was established. We don't know the date—Google's own page that gives corporate information and timelines says that this was done shortly after September 4, when the company's incorporation papers were filed.
Only Brin, Page, or the bank can tell us the exact date when the cheque was deposited. And until we get this information, we can always celebrate Google's birthday in September.
Happy Birthday, Google!
When were they registered?
Canada google.ca Oct 03, 2000
India google.co.in Jun 23, 2003
Japan google.co.jp Mar 22, 2001
Malaysia google.com.my Jul 31, 2003
Saudi Arabia google.com.sa Oct 15, 2003
