Since its beginnings as a humble student start-up in 1998, Google has pulled off a meteoric rise. In 2025, its parent company, Alphabet, is a vast multinational technology conglomerate and one of the world’s most valuable companies. While much of Alphabet’s growth was internal, it also added to its empire through shrewd acquisitions, including of Android, DoubleClick and YouTube. Since 1998, it has acquired at least 267 companies.
Alphabet is a key player in many digital markets, including general search, browsers, online advertising, mobile operating systems and intermediation. Google Search, for example, is now the most widely used general search engine in the world. Globally, its market share has been at least 78% for the past 10 years.
