Google 2009 Annual Report Download - page 36

In addition, because our services are accessible worldwide, certain foreign jurisdictions have claimed and
others may claim that we are required to comply with their laws, even where we have no local entity, employees, or
infrastructure.
Culture and Employees
We take great pride in our culture. We embrace collaboration and creativity and encourage the iteration of
ideas to address complex technical challenges. Transparency and open dialog are central to us, and we like to
make sure that company news, whether about product launches, industry news and innovations, or organizational
changes, reaches our employees first through internal channels like weekly TGIF meetings, Tech Talks, blogs, and
messages from leadership.
We have evolved into a software, technology, internet, mobile, advertising, and media company all rolled into
one. We take technology innovation very seriously and compete aggressively for talent across the globe. We strive
to hire the best computer scientists and engineers to help us solve very significant challenges across systems
design, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data mining, networking, software engineering, testing, distributed
systems, cluster design, and other areas. We work hard to provide an environment where these talented people can
have fulfilling jobs and produce technological innovations that have a positive effect on the world through daily use
by millions of people.
Despite our rapid growth, we still cherish our roots as a startup, and we give employees the freedom to act on
their ideas regardless of their level within the company. This spirit has spurred some of our most impactful global
initiatives, including Google Flu Trends, which uses search data to estimate global flu activity, GoogleServe, our
annual company-wide community service event, and products like Google News, orkut, and Android.
We aim to reflect the globally diverse audience of our products in our employee population and believe that we
can serve our users better when we foster diverse perspectives and ideas within the company. We provide very
significant rewards for individuals and teams that provide great value to us, our advertisers, and our users. The
commitment to maintaining and enhancing these programs year after year supports Google’s culture of innovation
and performance and also keeps employee interests aligned with those of the company.
At December 31, 2009, we had 19,835 employees, consisting of 7,443 in research and development, 7,338 in
sales and marketing, 2,941 in general and administrative and 2,113 in operations. All of Google’s employees are also
equityholders, with significant collective employee ownership.
Seasonality
Both seasonal fluctuations in internet usage and traditional retail seasonality have affected, and are likely to
continue to affect, our business. Internet usage generally slows during the summer months, and commercial
queries typically increase significantly in the fourth quarter of each year. These seasonal trends have caused and
will likely continue to cause, fluctuations in our quarterly results, including fluctuations in sequential revenue
growth rates.
Available Information
Our web site is located at www.google.com, and our investor relations web site is located at
http://investor.google.com. The following filings are available through our investor relations web site after we file
them with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on
Form 10-Q, and our Proxy Statements for our annual stockholder’s meetings (for the last two years). We also
provide a link to the section of the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov that has all of our public filings. Our Quarterly
Reports, Annual Reports, and Proxy Statements for the last two years are also available for download free of
charge on our investor relations web site. Further, a copy of this Annual Report on Form 10-K is located at the
18