Google IPO on August 19, 2004 The Search Ends Here

Though you cannot that way point a specific date in its journey, it would be blasphemous to conclude this listing without including Google. Its IPO on August 19, 2004 would fit the bill perfectly. This IPO was probably the most talked-about business story of the past 10 years. A year later its share value ascended to the point where the company became the most highly valued media company in the world, beating Time Warner. Its stock and its dominant position in search and related advertising is still the envy of just about every other company on the planet, a testament to the companys tech savvy and ability to figure out how to monetize its position.

Ad dollars have enabled the company to branch out, offering a host of online apps including Gmail, the Android mobile phone platform and the upcoming Chrome OS. The company is leading the way to a future in which most people access most data and applications from the web, rather than a hard drive. One of the big stories of the next decade will be whether the company can make money from its non-search technology, and successfully complete its end-run around Microsoft, which still dominates software for the PC.

Interestingly, as the decade comes to an end, Googles drawing the sort of unwanted government scrutiny that Microsoft attracted in the 90s. Will Google be humbled by the trustbusters in the coming years? Or will it learn from Microsofts mistakes and make peace with the feds before any of its business plans get squashed? That will be one of the big events when this list is again compiled in 2020.