The barely 10-year-old Google is the world's most powerful brand, followed by General Electric and Microsoft, according to a survey conducted by Millward Brown's BrandZ index. The survey assigned values to various brands based on their financial strength and consumer sentiment.

1. Google

Google, with a brand value of $66.434 billion, is the world's most powerful brand.

The global search engine giant was started as a research project in January 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Ph.D students at Stanford University, California. Google Inc was incorporated on September 7, 1998, at a friend's garage in Menlo Park, California. The company, known for its innovations and stupendous growth rate, went public on August 19, 2004.

Page and Brin's search engine was originally called BackRub. The name 'Google' originated from 'googol,' which refers to the number represented by a 1 followed by one-hundred zeros.

Eric E. Schmidt is the CEO of Google, while co-founder Sergey Brin and Larry page are Technology President and Products President, respectively.

The company is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol GOOG. 'Google' is now a verb, having found its way into the dictionary. It means 'to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet.'

A sign outside of the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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