The lobby of a building at Google in Mountain View on Tuesday, July 3, 2007. Google Inc., founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, is a leading company specializing in Internet search and online advertising. It has over 13,000 full-time employees and is well-known for treating them very well with high salaries, stock options and free amenities such as gourmet meals, laundry facilities and massages.