Last week Google announced record revenues of nearly $1.6 billion for the third quarter ending 30 September 2005, nearly double the same period in 2004.
Since the announcement, the company's market capitalisation topped $100 billion for the first time just 14 months after becoming a public company. At the time of the Initial Public Offering (IPO), when their shares were priced at $85, Google was valued at $23.1 billion.
This meteoric rise puts Google in an exclusive club of only around 20 companies which have market values of over $100 billion. This club includes famous names such as Microsoft ($271 billion), Intel ($143 billion), IBM ($135 billion), Coca-Cola ($102 billion). But as Red Herring reports, none got there as quickly as Google which is just 7 years old.
Google's success underlines the huge impact the Internet is having on society as it becomes more entrenched as part of our day to day lives. In less than 10 years the web has transformed how we research, consumer information and communicate. And Google, although not one of the original search engines, has been at the heart of this revolution.
But does this make Google worth as much as Coca-Cola, a company founded back in 1886? I am currently reading John Battelle's book, The Search
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