Google had a pretty good year in 2018, unveiling a bunch of new tech as well some exciting gadgets and devices for everyday use. In fact, the Internet titan is worth nearly $800b, up 10% from last year, with its revenue coming from Internet search, cloud computing, and other business services.
The Google Home Hub, Pixel Slate tablet, Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL smartphones, have all been launched just this year. The Home Hub does a stellar job at integrating all your home’s smart devices and appliances into one convenient command center. The Pixel Slate tablet is sleek and hopes to take Apple’s iPod Pro and Surface Pro down a notch. Meanwhile, the new line of Pixel 3 smartphones have enhanced camera features, with many sites proclaiming it as the best Android phone of the year.
Tons of new features and improvements have also been introduced to some of Google’s more popular services like Gmail, Google Assistant, Google Chrome, and Google Maps.
With our friends over at SEO Tribunal keeping tabs of some of Google’s latest achievements, here are five more interesting 2018 highlights for the Internet powerhouse:
1. When Google went public in August 2004, a hundred shares of the Internet company would set you back $8,500. Today, that same 100 shares would be worth just a little over $100,000. And while some 19 million units were sold at the IPO, the vast majority (270+ million shares) remain under the control of Google.
2. 97% of Google’s revenue comes from search advertising, and they posted some pretty good figures for 2018 as well, reporting Q1 earnings of $26.6 billion, up 24% from the previous year’s $21.4 billion.
3. As advertising budgets have increasingly moved towards mobile, Google makes up an impressive 32.4% of total mobile ad spends. Facebook has second place, with a 24.6% share of the market.
4. One of the most high-profile acquisitions by Google was its purchase of YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion. Since 2001, the company has acquired more than 200 companies from over 22 countries worldwide. London-based DeepMind Technologies (an A.I. research firm), OwlChemy Labs (virtual reality software), and the popular GPS-navigation software app, Waze, are just some of Google’s latest new investments.
5. Google already has 70 offices in 50 countries, with its corporate headquarters at the Mountain View, California campus known affectionately as the GooglePlex. The company recently announced plans to expand its offices in New York City, putting in an additional $1 billion in real estate investments for setting up another Google campus, which will be known as Google Hudson Square. If everything goes according to plan, the new facilities should be up and running by 2020.
