By akademiotoelektronik, 10/02/2023

In 20 years, Google's sprawling empire

It seems far away, the time when Google was just a simple search engine.Twenty years after its creation, the startup launched by two broke students in a garage in Menlo Park, California, has become a multinational valued more than $ 850 billion.But if the Google entity - which brings together all the flagship services such as the search engine, Gmail, YouTube, Chrome, Maps, Google Cloud or the Android mobile operating system - is the cash machine and the cornerstone ofThe Empire, it is only an arm of the alphabet octopus.

Created in 2015, the group's parent company hosts a huge range of activities, proof of the Californian giant ambitions in many areas, from health to Deep Tech, passing drones, connected house, venture capitalOr the Smart City.

Because bets on technologies of the future, Google makes it in turn.The American giant has acquired no less than 226 companies since its creation, against 209 for Microsoft and 97 for Apple.The creation of alphabet therefore made it possible to organize more clearly the activities of the Google Empire, which has become sprawling over time.

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[A graph of our partner Statista.Click on picture to enlarge.]]

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Very expensive "shots on the moon"

The holding company therefore includes the group's core business - the search engine funded by online advertising -, and its "other bets" (in French, "other Paris") designating the most experimental activities.The Mountain View firm wanted to make itself "clearer and more responsible", justified Larry Page.Behind this restructuring, the CEO highlighted a flexibility gain for management, to make it possible to develop additional activities more quickly.This maneuver also made it possible to reassure the markets by giving them better visibility on Google investments.Because these "crazy" bets are very expensive.In the second quarter of 2018, they recorded a turnover of $ 145 million (+49.5% compared to the same period last year) for an operating loss of $ 732 million (+15.6%)).

By launching colossal projects in-all, the juggernaut of the Internet has revealed an investment strategy sometimes erratic.The failure of Boston Dynamics is an emblematic example.Alphabet has separated from this company, specializing in military robotics, only three years after its acquisition.

In 2013, the Californian company had launched all over the robotics by buying eight startups in the field, of which Boston Dynamics, quickly became the most popular thanks to its frightening robots and its viral videos on the Internet.The lack of outlets and colossal production costs will end the robotic division from 2015.Not enough to make alphabet blush, which claims to want to take risks, even if it means failing along the way.To illustrate his ambition to revolutionize new sectors, such as what he has accomplished with online research, the American giant speaks of "Monshots" (in French, "shots on the moon").

The 11 branches of the alphabet octopus

Google alone includes more than twenty ramifications - including the historic activity of the American giant, its search engine and its advertising management.Clearly, this division is the alphabet machine.This entity also includes the Chrome, Gmail, Maps services, as well as the Android operating system, the YouTube video platform, its service dedicated to virtual reality or the Google Cloud platform, including all of its cloud services.Deepmind, a company specializing in artificial intelligence and bought by Google in 2014 for $ 628 million, is also there.Last arrival in February 2018: Nest Labs, previously independent within the group since its acquisition in 2014 by Alphabet.Created in 2010 in California, it had been bought for $ 3.2 billion - becoming the most expensive 2nd acquisition in group history.Specialized at its beginnings in connected thermostats and smoke detectors, the startup aims to incorporate the virtual assistant from Google in all its gadgets.

This division also includes the Google philanthropic organization.Org and activities dedicated to supporting companies: the incubator of Startups Launchpad Accelerator, the Gradient Ventures Capital Fund dedicated to innovations in AI or even the Capital G Fund.

This laboratory, often described as "secret", is no longer a mystery.Since 2010, he has been in charge of break -in innovation at Alphabet to "create new radical technologies and solve some of the most complicated global problems".He is intended to incubate projects, before giving them their independence within the group - as was the case for Waymo, Verily, Chronicle Security, Loon and Wing.Currently, X still works on the famous "Google Glass" (connected glasses).The Makani project, making it possible to produce energy thanks to sails inspired by Kite Surf, is still in pipes.

This project aims to connect isolated regions to the Internet thanks to balloons moving in the stratosphere.The first connection established via this mechanism dates back to June 2013, in New Zealand.Since then, these balloons have recorded 190 -day flight records.In mid-July, Loon went up a gear by announcing deploying for the first time commercially its balloons in Kenya by 2019.

Like Loon, Wing became a fully-fledged subsidiary of alphabet in July 2018- leaving the cocoon of the X laboratory where it has been playing since 2014.This entity develops a drone delivery system, thus competing Amazon Prime Air.Wing, who obtained authorization to carry out his first tests in 2016, is still in Detst phase.

As early as 2009, the American giant developed within Laboratory X SA "Google Car", autonomous car.She made her first fully autonomous trip on public road - that is to say unmanned inside the car - in October 2015.A world premiere.With its successes, the subsidiary becomes a full division in 2016.Last year, Waymo accelerated life -size tests on American roads, claiming to have traveled 2 million miles over a year (more than 3 million kilometers).

This fund is the armed arm of alphabet for investment in startups.Launched in 2009 under the name of Google Ventures, it was initially equipped with $ 100 million.Ten years later, it has $ 3.5 billion in assets.GV claims big names in his portfolio, such as Slack and Uber business messaging, in which he invested $ 258 million in 2013.

Since the beginning of the year, GV has already made 45 investments, including 23 as the main action.In total, the fund claims 575 investments in the health sectors, artificial intelligence, robotics, transport, but also cybersecurity and agriculture.Its watchword: a major room for maneuver vis-à-vis the strategic investments of alphabet, posed as a sine qua non condition from the beginnings by Bill Maris, CEO of the fund until 2016.A European division was created in 2014 - GV then promised to invest $ 125 million in the startups of the old continent, before withdrawing in 2015.

After revolutionizing the Internet, Google has set itself the mission to challenge death by creating in 2013 Calico, a research company in biotechnology.His mission: "fight against aging and associated diseases".If this investment may seem far from the alphabet core business, this is not surprising for Larry Page and Sergei Brin, co-founders of Google.The two billionaires claim to be transhumanism, current of thought which puts on technology to allow man to put an end to diseases and if possible, death.

This health subsidiary was born from the acquisition of Lift Labs, specialized in smart covers, by Google in 2014 for a non -communicated amount.Its official mission: "Create equipment to collect and analyze health data in order to prevent and improve the processing of diseases".Among her projects, Verily has developed contact lenses to control the level of glucose in diabetic people or, created a spoon for people with tremors, such as Parkinson patients.Last April, Verily declared that he wanted to "map human health" - just that - by recruiting 10.000 volunteers for a minimum of four years to build a large medical database.

Founded in 2014, this entity dedicated to the Smart City aims to respond to major urban issues thanks to technology: how to reduce energy consumption?How to unclog road traffic?How to reduce the cost of rents?In 2016, the subsidiary announced a partnership with the American Department of Transport to help decongest road traffic.Sidewalk then launched "Flow", a platform aggregating large amounts of anonymized data and recovered from Google Maps, public Wi-Fi or even connected park....The idea being to be able to offer alternatives to users, such as carpooling or self-service bikes.Sidewalk Labs received the agreement of the Toronto town hall in late July for its first major project.The subsidiary will create a "neighborhood of the future" there on almost 5 hectares.If Sidewalk has not yet communicated on concrete construction projects, he has already undertaken to invest $ 50 million for this High Tech district.

Launched in 2010, this Ultra Haut-Débit fiber network project promised transmission speeds 100 times higher than those of networks then available.The first deployment was made in 2012, in Kansas City in the United States, followed by Austin in 2014.While the American press relates rumors of too expensive deployments, Google Fiber marks "a break" in 2016.Without precise justification, the subsidiary says it wants to "refine its approach".The project, relaunched in 2017, now claims 19 cities in the United States - including Miami, San Francisco and Atlanta.

After two years of development within Laboratory X, this company dedicated to business cybersecurity was launched in January 2018."We want to help identify and stop cyber attacks before they cause damage," said Stephen Gillet, co-founder and CEO of Chronicle Security.For the moment, Alphabet has not been talkative about the future of his last baby.

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|Where is Google?Find the other articles in our special file in the Hebdo tribune n ° 260 dated September 14, 2018:

Anaïs Chérif

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