Larry Page. The life of Larry Page, co-founder of Google and head of Alphabet. Focus on the long term

Larry Page is the founder of modern search engines. This greatest merit is not his only achievement in life. Page built his life not on the principle - to succeed at any cost. His main dream was to become an inventor. In 1998, he made his dream come true. Wanting to help all users of the World Wide Web in effective searches, he reached incredible financial heights and has not left the Forbes list for many years. Photo: Marcin Mycielski, European Parliament, 2009.

Childhood of a computer genius

Larry Page was born on March 26, 1973. His homeland is USA, Michigan, the city of Lansing. Both of Page's parents belong to the teaching staff. Father Carl Victor Page held a professorship, his specialization was computational sciences. He was among the pioneers in this science. Mother Gloria Page was a high school programming teacher.

We can say that Larry absorbed with his mother's milk a love of science and technology, especially with regard to computers and their components.

Interesting fact. At the age of 6, his parents gave his son his first computer, which allowed him to study this technique from an early age. From the first grades, Larry began to do his homework electronically.

After graduating high school, Larry is pursuing his B.S. and M.S. in computer science consecutively from Stanford University.

The birth of an idea

Any innovation starts with an idea. So it was in the case of Larry Page. A series of non-random accidents led to the final pattern, which turned the curious boy into a billionaire.

Larry was a good student and a very curious young man. He never had the idea of ​​enrichment, but he always wanted to invent something conceptually new. While studying at the university, Page, by coincidence, met Sergey Brin. The first meeting resulted in a furious argument between two computer fanatics. She left an unpleasant impression on both interlocutors. Subsequently, they argued more than once, finding out that they were very similar in aspirations. This brought them together, making not only friends for life, but also partners.

Choosing the topic of his doctoral dissertation, Larry followed the advice of his supervisor and began to analyze the mathematical sequences of the Internet. It was this moment that played the most important role in the life of a student and billions of people on the planet.

Through research, he found that requests from users often do not lead to a consistent result. Search engines worked on the principle of selecting identical words in the text. Then Larry Page and Sergey Brin decide to create a new concept of search - by the number of views of each individual page. The system had to select the best, by the number of views, pages and arrange them in descending order.

The result of research and development is a joint project PageRank. This search engine was introduced at the university and gained instant popularity among students and teachers.

The widespread introduction of PageRank required significant funds, which ambitious students did not have. Then they decided to sell the invention for one million dollars. Luckily for them, no buyer was found.

Birth of Google

Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided to keep the idea for themselves, for its further improvement and development. In 1997 they receive a patent for PageRank, and in 1998 they found a company with the bright name Google.

Google is the name of a number that in mathematics means one followed by one hundred zeros. The name was not accidental and had a global context. The creators, as it were, declared that their idea is so great that it can cover such numerical volumes of requests. After 19 years, it's safe to say that the company has already surpassed its name.

Despite the epochal nature of the idea, for the first three years the friends were in extremely cramped material circumstances. The company did not generate income, but only required endless investments. In 2001, by joint efforts, they find a solution to the question of where to get money for further development. Larry Page introduces the idea of ​​placing ads on a search engine page. The innovation was that the smart system tracked the user's interests according to the requests entered by him and issued advertisements on related topics. Friends came up with a loyal payment system for advertisers - per click. Only the transition to the advertiser's site was paid for by them.

Since 2001, Larry Page's fortune has grown exponentially. Then he earned his first million. And in 2004 he became a billionaire. The idea of ​​a free sale of shares contributed to such a rapidly growing fortune.

The initial price of Google shares was set at $85 per share. By the afternoon of the first day, the share price had risen to $100. To date, the value of shares fluctuates around $920–950 per share.

The rapid growth of Google

Today, Google is not only a search engine. Although even he alone is able to support his creators and their families until the end of time. According to data, at the beginning of 2017, Google processes about 2.5 trillion searches per year. Simple calculations show that 208 billion requests are made per month, and about 7 billion per day. In fact, every inhabitant of the planet makes one request daily.

In 2006, Larry Page acquires the video hosting company YouTube. This acquisition cost Google $1.65 million.

Today, Google also has: Image Search, Google News and Froogle services, the most popular email service Gmail, Nexus smartphones based on Android, applications Google Maps and Google Play and much more.

Company career

The creation of Google was a partnership, so the friends shared the ruling posts among themselves. The job title never played a decisive role for the two inventors.

Nevertheless, Page visited the following posts:

1998–2001 - Executive Director

2001–2011 - President of IT Products

From April 2011 - Executive Director

Transnational public corporation Google Inc. is developing at an accelerated pace. Its development does not carry the idea of ​​increasing profits, but only the globalization of the world wide web.

Larry Page once said, “If we were doing everything for money, we would have sold the company a long time ago and were relaxing on the beach.”

Forbes magazine ranked Page at number 12 in 2017. His fortune at the beginning of the year is 40.7 billion US dollars.

Life of Larry Page outside of Google Inc

Larry Page is a passionate person. He loves sports, he has a special craving for roller hockey and kite surfing. His friends and acquaintances note not only his extraordinary mind, but also his wit, as well as his endless craving for new knowledge and discoveries.

Larry has been happily married for over 10 years. His wife is also directly related to computer technology, although this is not her only direction. Lucinda Southworth has three diplomas, including a medical degree.

Page invests not only in the development of his offspring, but also in other global projects. In particular, he is interested in finding alternative energy sources. In this area, he makes huge financial injections. It is actively collaborating with some electric vehicle companies.

Page's interests go beyond the global scale, but this does not prevent him from solving earthly problems. Like most rich people, Larry donates a lot to charity. In this endeavor, he is actively supported by his other half. Lucinda Southworth is actively involved in charity work in South Africa helping starving children.

Page's interest in philanthropy was more of a formality, until he developed serious health problems. The resulting problems with the vocal cords allowed him to reconsider his views. The result was a solid financial support Voice HealthInstitute, which is engaged in developments to overcome voice problems.

Useful videos

Leadership through the eyes of the co-founders of Google. History of success.

Larry Page, one of the founding fathers of Google and CEO of Alphabet, this moment is on the twelfth step in Forbes ranking with a fortune of about 48.8 billion dollars. Also, according to the same publication, Page is ranked tenth in the ranking of the most influential people peace. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? How can we understand the mindset of a person who came up with the idea of ​​“downloading the entire Internet”? Perhaps some of his beliefs will help us to do this.

So, Larry Page's 9 rules for success:

1. Set big goals

Goals that really get people up every morning for 10 years must be truly big and great. A person must live this in order to inspire his team and keep the set course.

2. Don't be afraid to make mistakes

Only by trial and error can you find out where to go and how to do the right thing. The fear of making a mistake is holding you back from what is likely to be necessary to successfully advance your business. Google Hangouts is one of the attempts to do something good, and as you can see, many people appreciated this "try" and actively use this service. Larry Page says they tried many other options and ideas before launching Hangouts. Therefore, if you take a risk, it will pay off sooner or later.

3. Stay Organized

As the company gets bigger and bigger, it's hard to control small projects. Therefore, Page needed to come up with some new concepts for organizing the process. There was a time when Google was working on hundreds of projects at the same time and it was difficult to keep everything under control. Therefore, they tritely made a list, ranking the projects in order of importance. And, surprisingly, it worked.

4. Focus on the long term

The most important, according to Larry Page, is on long-term and important projects. However, the question arises: how to determine what is really important? Page suggests the so-called "toothbrush" test. The bottom line is to determine the importance of what you do in terms of how often your end product is used by others. How often do you use a toothbrush? The average is twice a day, although some people brush their teeth after every meal. But nonetheless Toothbrush remains a much needed item. So it is with projects. Determine what people use the most and work on it.

5. You must have a really good idea.

Starting a business selling “vapes” just because it is now a popular and rather hot commodity is bad and unreliable. You need to promote something. Otherwise, a business based on something popular is a matter of just a few years. Larry Page is convinced that any idea, even if it is still under development, requires investment. And often such "ideological" people go to investors. So, in order to invest in your business, it must be based on an original idea.

6. Accept calls

One of the problems that Google has faced is that the information users are looking for is often not on their website. mother tongue. And it really became a hindrance to further development. To solve it, the company spent 6 years. 6 years of project development so that information can be translated into 64 languages ​​so that users can comfortably get what they want. The challenge posed to the company by this problem, and its acceptance, forced Google to evolve.

7. Don't stop

Larry Page is sure that you should not stop there. Hire new specialists, educate yourself and develop yourself so that your business develops along with you. If you want to do something big, there is no limit, no stop sign. You can go endlessly forward, discovering more and more new ways of working and sources of ideas.

8. Adapt

Times are changing fast, and what was at the top of all charts today may be tomorrow failed project. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to quickly adapt to new conditions in the world in order to be on top.

9. Follow your dreams

The best way to fulfill a dream is to make it your hobby. Creating such a business and getting into the Forbes lists was probably not the dream of the co-founder of a huge company. Larry Page just wanted to make this world a better place and help people. And this dream has found a name - Google.

Larry Page, born in 1973 in Michigan, came from a family of computer scientists, so his decision to take up computer science at Stanford University came as no surprise. It was here that he met Sergey Brin. Together, Page and Brin develop a search engine that sorts results by the popularity of searched pages, which they call "Google".

Since its creation in 1998, the system has become the most popular in the world, receiving, according to 2013 data, about 6 billion requests daily.

Early years and career

Larry Page, full name whom Lawrence Page was born on March 26, 1973 in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. His father, Carl Page, was a computer pioneer and artificial intelligence and mother taught computer programming. Having received scientific degree bachelor in field technical sciences at the University of Michigan, Page decides to focus on studying computer science at Stanford University, where he meets Sergey Brin.

Birth of Google

At the University of Page and Brin, having come to the conclusion that the results requested most often are the most useful, they are taken as science project to create a search engine that arranges the results obtained depending on the popularity of their views. Friends call their search engine "Google", from the mathematical term "googol" - a number represented by a unit with 100 zeros to indicate their intentions to sort through the huge amount of information available on the network.

In 1998, having collected together a start-up capital of 1 million US dollars, the institute comrades founded their own company. Since then, Google has become the most popular search engine in the world, receiving, according to 2013 data, 5.9 billion queries daily. Based in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, Google goes public in August 2004 and Page and Brin become billionaires.

Present time

In 2006, "Google" acquires the most popular website for hosting user videos "YouTube" for 1.65 million US dollars.

In September 2013, Page is ranked 13th on the Forbes 400 list. the richest people America. And in October of the same year, his name appears on the list of the most influential people of 2013 according to Forbes at number 17. Today, being the CEO of Google, Page continues to share the concerns about the operational management of the company with Sergey Brin, director of special projects at Google, and Eric Schmidt, executive director of the organization.

Larry Page- Since March 2011 - Executive Director of Google.

Biography

Larry fell in love with computers from the age of six, which is not surprising, because his father, Dr. Carl Victor Page was a professor of computer science at the University of Michigan. Following in his father's footsteps, he became an honorary graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a bachelor's degree in computer science. During his postgraduate doctoral studies at Stanford University, Larry met Sergey Brin. Together they created and led Google since 1998. Larry left Stanford on a sabbatical after receiving his master's degree.

Until April 2001 - CEO of Google.

In 2002, Larry received the title of "Global Leader for Tomorrow" at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He is a member of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) of the Michigan State University School of Engineering and, along with Sergey Brin, was awarded the Marconi Award in 2004. Larry is an X PRIZE fund manager and was elected a member National Academy engineering sciences in 2004. Page is one of the richest people on the planet with a fortune of $15.8 billion, ranking 14th in the Forbes 400 as of September 17, 2008.

Till March, 2011 - the president on products of Google.

Since March 2011 - Executive Director of Google.

Larry Page, who gave up his salary in 2005 after selling part of his shares, earned only $1 in 2017.

A family

About spouse executive director Google Larry Page Lucinda Southworth knows little. She graduated from two universities: Oxford and then Stanford. In the second, she trained as a bioinformatics specialist. Southworth married Paige in 2007. For some time, the wife of the second founder of Google was involved in charity work in South Africa.

Lucinda Southworth and Larry Page

State

Health: The head of Google admitted to a serious illness

In May 2013, Google CEO Larry Page finally admitted that he had serious health problems. Rumors around him physical condition appeared back in 2012, when, at one of the meetings with shareholders, his voice unexpectedly changed his voice, and from that moment Page began to speak in an overly soft voice.

Remembering the illness and sudden death of another famous IT guru, Apple founder Steve Jobs, fans of the Internet company were seriously worried, since there was no official information about Page's health.

As a result, in May, Page published a post on his personal blog on the Google+ platform, where he finally explained what was happening to him. Fortunately, no deadly disease was found in him, but, nevertheless, his condition cannot be called harmless: for unknown reasons, Page had an almost complete paralysis of the vocal cords, so his ability to pronounce phrases was very limited.

For the first time, Page discovered signs of illness 14 years ago, when his voice suddenly became coarse, but then he did not attach serious importance to this, the legendary top manager admitted. However, in the future, his vocal abilities did not fully recover, so, in the end, the doctors discovered that Page had paralysis of the left ligament.

In the summer of 2012, Page wrote, the situation repeated itself, so that now his right vocal cord was almost completely paralyzed, retaining only partial mobility, as a result of which his voice softened.

"I am fully functional at home and at work, although my voice sounds softer than before," Page wrote. “Long monologues are now a challenge for me and perhaps the audience. Sergey [Brin] says I'm the best CEO because I choose my words very carefully,” he joked.

Page's only problem is high-intensity aerobic activity, yet he still kitesurfs. Page and his doctors do not fully understand why his vocal cords stricken with paralysis, so Larry plans to invest in the Voice Health Institute, where appropriate research could be done.