It had been nearly six years since Google’s attention-grabbing initial public offering and, despite overall stock market weakness, Google remained strong. Although the stock moved with the market in general, the company returned significantly higher returns to its shareholders than did the S&P 500 (Exhibit1). Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page had created a huge empire in which they now faced challenges of continued growth and innovation. These challenges would carry them through the second decade of the new millennium.