Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and the company is best known for its search engine, which had 88.5 per cent market share as of April 2019. It has also diversified into email, word-processing software, translations and maps. The tech giant has owned the video-sharing site YouTube since 2006, and it develops the Google Chrome browser and Android mobile operating system.

According to Alexa, Google’s homepage is the most popular website on the internet. The average person spends eight minutes a day browsing its search results. YouTube comes a close second.

Most of Google’s revenue comes from advertising, as it allows businesses to promote their websites when users search for a relevant keyword. Independent websites can also embed Google advertising and receive a share of the profits. In 2015, the company underwent a radical restructure and rebranded itself as Alphabet – separating its core businesses (Google, YouTube, AdWords) from its experimental side projects known as “Other Bets.”