Google vs IBM: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Google and IBM side by side

1. 1911IBM

   Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company Founded

   Charles Ranlett Flint merged the Tabulating Machine Company, International Time Recording Company, Computing Scale Company, and Bundy Manufacturing Company to form CTR - the company that would become IBM.

2. 1924IBM

   Renamed to International Business Machines

   Under Thomas J. Watson Sr. CTR was renamed International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), reflecting the company's growing international presence and ambition beyond tabulating machines.

3. 1952IBM

   IBM 701 - First Commercial Computer

   IBM launched the 701, its first commercially available electronic computer, marking the company's decisive entry into the electronic computing era and beginning its dominance of the mainframe market.

4. 1964IBM

   System/360 Launch

   IBM launched the System/360, a compatible family of computers spanning all price points. The $5 billion investment was the largest privately funded project at the time and established the mainframe industry standard for decades.

5. 1981IBM

   IBM Personal Computer Launch

   IBM introduced the IBM PC, which standardized personal computing architecture and created the PC industry. The open architecture decision inadvertently created the Wintel duopoly that would ultimately commoditize IBM's own PC business.

6. 1993IBM

   Lou Gerstner Arrives - Turnaround Begins

   Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Became CEO as IBM posted $8 billion in losses. His decision to keep IBM intact rather than break it up, and to pivot toward services, saved the company and redefined its business model for the next two decades.

7. 1997IBM

   Deep Blue Defeats Kasparov

   IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov, becoming the first computer to beat a reigning world champion in a full match and establishing IBM's brand in artificial intelligence.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 2019IBM

    Red Hat Acquisition Closes

    IBM completed the $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat, the largest software acquisition in history at the time. The deal anchored IBM's hybrid cloud strategy and provided the OpenShift platform as the foundation for enterprise Kubernetes.

18. 2021IBM

    Kyndryl Spinoff

    IBM spun off its managed infrastructure services business as Kyndryl Holdings, removing approximately $19 billion in low-margin revenue to focus the remaining company on higher-margin software and consulting.

19. 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.

20. 2023IBM

    Watsonx Platform Launch

    IBM launched watsonx, its enterprise AI and data platform combining foundation models (Granite), data management (watsonx.data), and AI governance (watsonx.governance). The platform represents IBM's AI strategy for the generative AI era.

21. 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.

22. 2026IBM

    Confluent Acquisition Closes

    IBM completed its roughly $11 billion acquisition of Confluent, adding real-time data streaming used by more than 6,500 enterprises to its AI and hybrid cloud software.

Acquisitions

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