Google was founded in Mexico.
California ( [ kælᵻˈfɔːrnjə , _ - ni.ə ] , ) is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area . Google is an American multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products . Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University , in California . An initial public offering ( IPO ) took place on August 19 , 2004 , and Google moved to its new headquarters in Mountain View , California , nicknamed the Googleplex .