Last Updated on September 13, 2024
Google is the world’s most sought-after search engine. The legacy of two PhD students gave us a glorious multinational technology company that now owns over 200 companies!
Google’s list of subsidiaries is far too expansive and will not vest well within the scope of this article. That’s why we’re introducing you to the top 12 subsidiaries of google, and you’d be surprised to acknowledge some of them!
Google’s History
Larry Page and Sergey Brin gave birth to Google in 1995 while they were pursuing their PhD at the prestigious Stanford University in California. Its first version went live on the Stanford website in 1996 and ended up consuming almost half of the website’s available bandwidth.
Google’s former name is Backrub! The name reflected a supposed mathematical expression from 0-100 zeros. Page and Brin wanted “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
In 2012, Google acquired Motorola, giving the company a chance to venture into mobile services. Google became more than just a search engine and started offering over 50 other product services (Gmail being one of them).
In mid-1999, Google generated $25 million USD and subsequently became Yahoo!’s client search engine.
In 2015, Google became a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., and in the same year, Sundar Pichai became the CEO of the booming multinational company.
Alphabet’s revenue as of Sept 30th, 2022, is US $282.113 Billion!
12 Companies Owned by Google
YouTube
- Nature of Company: Online Video Sharing and Streaming Service
- Price of Acquisition: 1.65 Billion USD
- Year of Acquisition: 2006
YouTube is an online video-sharing platform we all know and love. It is a part of the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people across the globe, and it is the second most visited website after Google search. This signifies the influence and grip YouTube has had on the video industry for the past 15+ years.
The platform was founded by three ex-PayPal employees in early 2005. In late 2006, YouTube was acquired by Google for $1.65 Billion in the form of Google stock.
Under the Google umbrella, YouTube expanded its business model and became part of the Google Adsense program, leading to more revenue for both creators and YouTube. Moreover, YouTube started offering premium paid content in the form of YouTube Red, which the company itself produced.
With over 2.5 billion monthly users, 1 billion hours of video playback daily, and a video upload rate of 500 hours a minute has seen YouTube become a mammoth in the online video industry.
YouTube’s annual ad revenue from 2021 alone is reported to be a staggering $28.8 billion, whereas google acquired the company for a miserly $1.65 billion.
Fitbit
- Nature of Company: Fitness Wearables
- Price of Acquisition: 2.1 Billion USD
- Year of Acquisition: 2021
Fitbit is an electronics and fitness company which was founded in 2007. It offers a range of wearable devices that track activity, fitness, and health. The company is most famous for its fitness smartwatches, armbands, fitness tracking application, and accessories.
Fitbit’s acquisition by Google was first announced in 2019, but the deal was sealed in 2021. At the time of acquisition, Fitbit was the fifth largest wearable technology company in the world. It was absorbed into Google’s hardware wing after the acquisition.
Fitbit’s acquisition caused an uproar among users due to the fear of their data being sold to health insurance companies and used for targeted advertising. However, Fitbit assured users that no data shall be sold and the company will hold true to its commitment to secure user privacy.
Kaggle
- Nature of Company: Network for Data Scientists and Machine Learning
- Price of Aquisition: –
- Year of Acquisition: 2017
Kaggle is another subsidiary of Google that was acquired in 2017. The platform is a melting pot of data scientists and machine learning practitioners from all over the globe.
The online platform allows users to collaborate with one another, enter data science and machine learning competitions, publish data sets, and explore the online data science environment.
According to the latest data, Kaggle has over 8 million users from 194 countries worldwide.
Firebase
- Nature of Company: Hosting Service
- Price of Aquisition: –
- Year of Acquisition: 2014
Firebase is a hosting service for all sorts of applications that allows developers to develop iOS, Android, and web applications.
Since its acquisition in 2014, Google has made profound improvements to Firebase by introducing Firebase Analytics, merging HTML5, and integrating various other Google services to provide a better platform for developers to work on.
Mandiant
- Nature of Company: Cybersecurity
- Price of Acquisition: 5.4 Billion Dollars
- Year of Acquisition: 2022
Mandiant is a cybersecurity firm that made headlines for uncovering cyber espionage by China in 2013. The company was acquired by Google in early 2022 with plans to integrate it into its Google Cloud division.
Mandiant specializes in cybersecurity testing and cyber incident response to help organizations develop effective and secure cybersecurity programs.
The acquisition deal between Google and Mandiant was subject to scrutiny for potential violation of the federal antitrust law. However, the Department of Justice approved the acquisition a few months later.
After the acquisition, Mandiant was allowed to retain its brand as a subsidiary of Google Cloud.
Android Inc
- Nature of Company: Mobile Operating System
- Price of Acquisition: 50 Million USD
- Year of Acquisition: 2005
Arguably, Android is one of the best acquisitions ever made by Google. Google bought Android from founder Andy Rubin in 2005 for a meagre $50 million.
After years of hard work and dedication, Android slowly became the leading operating system in the smartphone industry. As of 2020, Android dominates the global market, with over 75% of all smartphones running Android.
Suffice it to say Google’s acquisition of Android Inc was worth it!
Nest
- Nature of Company: Smart-home services
- Price of Acquisition: 3.2 Billion USD
- Year of Acquisition: 2014
Nest is a company that offers smart-home services. It was founded by two ex-apple employees who faced the need for a thermostat that could be controlled remotely through wifi even when they weren’t home. When they couldn’t find an existing product that matched their needs, the idea of Nest was born.
Nest was later acquired by Google in 2014 and merged with Google’s home division to create Google Nest. Other products by Nest include Nest Protect, Nest Cam Indoor, Nest Cam Outdoor, Nest Cam IQ, Nest Doorbell, and Nest WiFi.
Looker
- Nature of Company: Business Intelligence and Data Analytics
- Price of Acquisition: 2.6 Billion USD
- Year of Acquisition: 2020
Looker is a computer software company that deals with data analytics and business intelligence software.
Looker simplified the data analysis process by making it readable and translating it into easy languages. Business owners no longer needed to invest in programming experts, which made the data analytics process more streamlined and efficient.
After its acquisition, Looker was integrated to become a part of Google Cloud Platform to offer various business intelligence tools.
Waze
- Nature of Company: Navigation App
- Price of Acquisition: 966 Million USD
- Year of Acquisition: 2013
Waze is a popular mobile navigation app that uses GPS to convey routes to users. The salient feature that set Waze apart from the rest of the competition was its live traffic updates feature that was generated through crowdsourced data over the internet.
The traffic updates provided information about traffic incidents, rush, police traps, and blockages. These updates were helpful for other users on the same route so they could reroute or avoid the area altogether.
Waze was acquired by Google in 2013 mainly as a means to eliminate rising competition and to incorporate the live traffic updates features into Google Maps.
Double Click
- Nature of Company: Ad management service
- Price of Acquisition: 3.1 Billion USD
- Year of Acquisition: 2008
Double Click was an advertising company and a first-generation online advertising company. The company served many big names like Apple, Nike, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and General Motors.
Double Click’s main offering was known as DART; it was designed to increase the purchasing efficiency of advertisers and reduce unsold inventory.
The company was later acquired by Google in 2008. In 2018, Double Click was rebranded and merged with the new Google Marketing Platform. It exists today under the name Display & Video 360.
Dropcam
- Nature of Company: Live Cloud-Based Camera Systems for Security
- Price of Acquisition: 555 Million USD
- Year of Acquisition: 2014
Dropcam is a technology company that offers cameras and streaming devices that can be Wi-Fi operated. Consumers are able to install these cameras inside and outside their homes. It also caters to businesses that require reliable security. The software initiates live feeds through Dropcam’s cloud-based service.
Dropcam was acquired by Google’s Nest Labs in 2014 to be made a part of various smart-home products.
Google Fiber
- Nature of Company: Internet Provider
- Price of Acquisition: –
- Year of Acquisition: –
Google Fiber is an internet service provider that offers broadband internet and IPTV services. It was initially launched in Kansas city on a trial basis. It was announced as a business in 2012, and by 2016, Google Fiber had 453,000 broadband customers.
Google Fiber offers different options depending on the location of the customer. A free internet option, a 100 Mbit/s option, a 1 Gbit/s option, an option for television service, and an option with a home phone.
The television service can be streamed on other smart devices apart from the television.
Ask Away: The FAQ Section
Can a subsidiary have further subsidiaries?
It is common for a subsidiary to have further sub-companies that operate beneath it. It is even possible for these subsidiaries to have additional subsidiaries of their own. This whole collection of companies is known as a corporate.
For instance, Directr Inc. is a subsidiary of YouTube, which is itself a subsidiary of Google.
Is Google a subsidiary of Alphabet?
Alphabet is a multi-industry company that is a parent company to various unrelated multinational companies. Alphabet also happens to parent Google Inc which, in fact, does make Google a subsidiary of Alphabet.
Why does Google acquire companies?
Giant multinational companies like Google must stay competitive and increase their footprint endlessly. One of the most convenient and best ways to do this is through acquisitions.
These deals benefit Google and are also beneficial for the small startups that are acquired.
