How Google celebrates its 27th birthday
On September 27, 2025, the tech world will see a special Google doodle that brings back the original, colorful letters from 1998. The company chose that specific day back in 2005 to flag a breakthrough: it had just indexed 24 billion web pages, overtaking its biggest rival at the time. The doodle is more than a visual gag; it’s a reminder that a simple search engine can become a cultural touchstone.
To turn the celebration into something shoppers can feel, Google has lined up a series of offers across its Pixel ecosystem. Buying a Pixel 10 Pro or Pixel 10 Pro XL from the Google Store earns a $100 prepaid Mastercard. Pixel Buds Pro 2 are discounted by $50, and trade‑in programs can refund up to $350 when you hand over an eligible old device. These promotions aim to convert the birthday buzz into tangible sales while highlighting the hardware side of a company best known for software.
- $100 prepaid Mastercard with Pixel 10 Pro or Pro XL purchase.
- $50 off Pixel Buds Pro 2.
- Up to $350 trade‑in rebate on eligible devices for new Pixel phones or watches.
All of the offers run through the official Google Store and are timed to end shortly after the birthday week, creating a sense of urgency for fans and new customers alike.
Milestones that shaped a tech titan
Google’s story began in a cramped dorm room at Stanford, where Larry Page and Sergey Brin launched “Backrub” as part of their Ph.D. research. By late 1998 they had incorporated as Google, a name that would soon become synonymous with online search. The early logo, a quirky, multi‑colored wordmark, was later refined by Ruth Kedar – a Brazilian‑born, Israeli‑raised artist with a background in mathematics and architecture. Her experience gave the logo a balance of playfulness and structure that still resonates today.
Fast forward to May 2011, and Google became the first website to hit one billion monthly active users, a testament to how quickly the internet embraced its search engine. In January 2020, its parent company Alphabet joined an elite club of corporations valued at $1 trillion. By 2025, that figure has nearly tripled, pushing the market cap close to $3 trillion.
Beyond raw numbers, Google’s growth reshaped how we find information, shop, and communicate. The 2005 indexing milestone, which is why the company settled on September 27 as its birthday, signaled a shift from a simple search tool to an expansive data aggregator. Today, billions of queries flow through its servers every day, feeding everything from AI assistants to ad networks.
The wealth generated along the way turned Page and Brin into centibillionaires, with net worths hovering around $205 billion and $190 billion respectively. Their fortunes reflect not just personal success but also the massive economic engine Google has become – influencing markets, political discourse, and even cultural trends.
As the special doodle lights up Google’s homepage, the visual cue is clear: the company is proud of its past but still focused on the future. With new AI products, expanding hardware lines, and ongoing investments in cloud infrastructure, the next chapter could see Google pushing past the $3 trillion mark and redefining yet another aspect of digital life.
The Google birthday celebration therefore works on two levels – a nostalgic nod to humble origins and a strategic push to keep the brand at the forefront of both consumer and enterprise tech.