Google

Founders: Sergey Brin and Larry Page

Founded: September 4, 1998

Sergey Brin graduated with an undergraduate degree in computer science from University of Maryland. After graduation, he moved to Stanford to acquire a PhD in computer science. There he eventually became friends with Larry Page; they crammed their dormitory room with inexpensive computers and applied Brin’s data mining system to build a superior search engine. The program became so popular at Stanford that they decided to suspend their PhD studies to start up Google in a rented garage. In fact Sergey is still officially on leave! Now Google earns the bulk of its revenues from advertising thanks to initiatives like AdWords and the Google Display Network, which services both mobile and display ads. In the third quarter of 2010, the company reported $7.29 billion in sales, 97 percent of which came from ads.