SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Success was hardly assured for two Stanford University graduate students and their nascent search engine, operated from a couple of cramped dorm rooms and burdened with a goofy name. But their brainchild, Google, incorporated 10 years ago, has blossomed into one of the world’s most valuable businesses — simultaneously sparking fear and admiration in competitors while making information infinitely more accessible to hundreds of millions of people. Few companies have left such an indelible mark in such a relatively short period of time.
But can the Mountain View, Calif., online Goliath continue its winning streak for another 10 years? Unlike during its infancy, it now has a target on its back along with a sizable work force — 19,604 around the globe — that makes being nimble difficult. Brin and Page, both 35, formally established Google by incorporating it with the state of California on Sept. 7, 1998. Their goal was to create a better search engine than the likes of AltaVista, which dominated the industry at the time but often failed to return relevant results. MORE