Fortinet vs Google: Founders, CEOs and History
Fortinet was founded in 2000 by Ken Xie, Michael Xie and is led by Ken Xie. Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page, Sergey Brin and is led by Sundar Pichai.
Company facts
Founders
Fortinet
Ken Xie
Ken Xie co-founded Fortinet in 2000 with his brother Michael and has led it as Chairman and CEO since. Before Fortinet he co-founded NetScreen Technologies, a hardware-accelerated firewall company that Juniper Networks acquired in 2004 for about $4 billion.
Michael Xie
Michael Xie co-founded Fortinet with his brother Ken Xie in 2000 and serves as President and Chief Technology Officer. He oversees engineering, including the FortiOS operating system and the FortiASIC processors that accelerate FortiGate firewalls.
Larry Page
Google possesses arguably the most famous, influential founding story in the history of Silicon Valley, rooted in the academic environment of Stanford University and a foundational obsession with organizing all of human knowledge.
Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin co-founded Google and played a central role in the early engineering, product, and cultural development of the company. He helped build the search technology, recruit technical talent, and preserve a culture that valued bold experiments.
CEOs and their tenures
Fortinet
- Ken Xie2000–present
Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Xie is widely recognized as one of the most successful and enduring pioneers of the modern cybersecurity industry.
Source - Michael Xie2000–present
Co-Founder, President and Chief Technology Officer
Co-founded Fortinet with his brother Ken Xie in 2000 and has served as President and CTO, directing engineering and the custom silicon that differentiates FortiGate.
Source - Christiane Ohlgart2023–present
Chief Financial Officer
Serving as interim CFO, she steered the company through a severe, highly volatile period of plunging hardware sales, aggressively pushing the company's transition toward higher-margin software and services revenue.
Source
- Larry Page1998–2019
Co-founder and Former CEO
Larry Page is one of the most consequential technologists of the modern era. His initial algorithmic breakthrough organized the chaotic early internet, creating the essential infrastructure for the modern digital economy.
Source - Eric Schmidt2001–2011
Former CEO and Executive Chairman
Schmidt was the indispensable bridge between a chaotic academic research project and a globally dominant, publicly traded corporation.
Source - Sundar Pichai2015–present
CEO of Alphabet and Google
Pichai provides crucial corporate stability and pragmatic product leadership, transitioning Google from its chaotic early years into a profitable, mature corporate giant.
Source
Timeline: Fortinet and Google side by side
1998Google
Google Founded
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google after developing PageRank at Stanford University. The search engine ranked web pages by link authority, which made results feel more relevant than portal-era competitors.
2000Fortinet
Fortinet Founded
Ken Xie and Michael Xie founded Fortinet to build high-performance network security products.
2000Google
AdWords Launch
Google launched AdWords in 2000 and connected advertising to search intent. Businesses could pay to appear near relevant queries, eventually through auction-based performance advertising.
2002Fortinet
FortiGate Launch
The FortiGate appliance family established Fortinet's firewall-led product identity.
2004Google
Google IPO
Google went public in 2004 using an auction process and priced 19,605,052 shares at $85, raising about $1.67B. The IPO gave the company capital for hiring, data centers, acquisitions, and global expansion.
2005Google
Android Acquisition
Google acquired Android in 2005 to secure a role in mobile operating systems before smartphones became the main internet device. Android later gave Google global reach through manufacturers such as Samsung and many others.
2006Google
YouTube Acquisition
Google closed the YouTube acquisition in 2006 for stock valued at $1.65B. The deal gave Google a user-generated video platform, creator ecosystem, and advertising surface outside text search before online video had a mature business model.
2008Google
DoubleClick Acquisition
Google acquired DoubleClick for $3.1B to expand its advertising infrastructure beyond search. The deal strengthened display advertising, ad serving, and publisher relationships. It helped Google build a broader ad-tech stack.
2009Fortinet
IPO
Fortinet went public, giving the company access to capital for global enterprise expansion.
2012Fortinet
Acquired XDN
Fortinet acquired XDN. Fortinet acquired XDN in 2012.
2013Fortinet
Acquired Coyote Point
Fortinet acquired Coyote Point. Fortinet acquired Coyote Point in 2013.
2014Google
DeepMind Acquisition
Google acquired DeepMind in 2014 to deepen its artificial intelligence research bench. DeepMind later became known for AlphaGo and other breakthroughs in reinforcement learning and scientific AI.
2015Fortinet
Acquired Meru Networks
Fortinet acquired Meru Networks. Fortinet acquired Meru Networks in 2015.
2015Google
Alphabet Restructuring
Google restructured into Alphabet Inc. In 2015, separating core Google from Other Bets. The move gave investors clearer visibility into Search, YouTube, Android, and Cloud economics while preserving room for Waymo, Verily, Calico, and X.
2019Fortinet
Security Fabric Expansion
Fortinet broadened from firewalls into integrated secure networking, endpoint, cloud, and operations products.
2019Google
Sundar Pichai Becomes Alphabet CEO
Sundar Pichai became CEO of Alphabet in 2019 after Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped back from daily operations. Pichai inherited a company facing cloud competition, antitrust scrutiny, privacy pressure, and rising AI expectations.
2023Google
Google DeepMind Integration
Alphabet combined major AI research efforts under Google DeepMind to accelerate frontier model development. The move followed competitive pressure from OpenAI and Microsoft.
2024Fortinet
Lacework and Next DLP Acquisitions
Fortinet bought cloud-security firm Lacework and data-loss-prevention vendor Next DLP.
2025Fortinet
Service Revenue Reaches Two-Thirds of Sales
FY2025 service revenue reached $4.5812B, or 67 percent of total revenue.
2025Google
FY2025 Revenue Tops $402B
Alphabet reported FY2025 revenue of $402.836B and net income of $132.170B. The milestone showed that Search ads, YouTube, Cloud, and subscriptions kept scaling despite regulatory and AI disruption concerns.
2026Fortinet
Refresh-Driven Acceleration
Q2 2026 revenue rose 26% to $2.05B and 2026 revenue guidance was raised to $8.02-$8.18B.
Acquisitions
Fortinet
- Everest2025Undisclosed
- Lacework2024Undisclosed
- Next DLP2024Undisclosed
- ShieldX2021Undisclosed
- Sken.Ai2021Undisclosed
- OPAQ Networks2020Undisclosed
- Wiz2025$32B
- Mandiant2022$5.4B
- Fitbit2021$2.1B
- DeepMind2014$500M
- DoubleClick2008$3.1B
- YouTube2006$1.6B
Questions about Fortinet vs Google
Who is the CEO of Fortinet, Inc. and Alphabet Inc.?
Fortinet, Inc. is led by Ken Xie and Alphabet Inc. is led by Sundar Pichai. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Fortinet, Inc. founded vs Alphabet Inc.?
Alphabet Inc. was founded in 1998 — 2 years before Fortinet, Inc., which was founded in 2000. Alphabet Inc.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Fortinet, Inc..
How many employees does Fortinet, Inc. have compared to Alphabet Inc.?
Fortinet, Inc. employs approximately 15,109 people, while Alphabet Inc. employs approximately 190,820. Alphabet Inc. has the larger workforce at 190,820 employees, compared to Fortinet, Inc.'s 15,109. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Fortinet, Inc. and Alphabet Inc. headquartered?
Both Fortinet, Inc. and Alphabet Inc. are headquartered in United States, meaning they operate under the same primary regulatory and tax environment.
Who founded Fortinet, Inc. and Alphabet Inc.?
Fortinet, Inc. was founded by Ken Xie, Michael Xie. Alphabet Inc. was founded by Larry Page, Sergey Brin.
Which company has a longer operating history — Fortinet, Inc. or Alphabet Inc.?
Alphabet Inc. has been operating for approximately 28 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Fortinet, Inc. has been in operation for around 26 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Fortinet vs Google overview