Google makes 27 cents per search

Yes, it is true. You don't pay anything but Google still manages to cash in 27 cents per every search you enter in the search box. The average revenue per searcher is $7. Google market cap is more than 100 billion dollars which makes it one of the 20 largest companies in the world.

Read more in $94, er, $106 Billion by John Battelle, the author of The Search, a textbook about the search industry.

What is the secret of their success?

Sergey Brin, a Google founder: "If the executives controlled what projects were pushed forward at Google, most of the products that have made Google successful would have never been passed."

This is a perfect example of how important is to have an open mind for new ideas.

Google employees devote 20 % of their work time to personal projects. Adsense/Adwords, which provide the majority of the company's revenue, was started that way, also Gmail and Google News.