The dominance has enabled Google to rake in US$48 billion from Internet ads since 2001. Google hasn’t hoarded all of that money: the company has paid US$15 billion in commissions to the Web sites that run its ads during the same period, helping to support major online destinations like AOL, Ask.com and MySpace as well as an array of bloggers.

“Google is the oxygen in this ecosystem,” Battelle said.

The company hopes to inhale even more Internet advertising from the biggest deal in its short history — a US$3.2 billion acquisition of online marketing service DoubleClick Inc. that was completed six months ago.

Google also is trying to mine more money from its second-largest acquisition, YouTube, the Internet’s leading video channel. YouTube is expected to generate about US$200 million in revenue this year, an amount that analysts believe barely scratches the video site’s moneymaking potential.

Eventually, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt wants the entire company to generate US$100 billion in annual revenue, which would make it roughly as big as the two largest information-technology companies — Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM Corp. — each are now. This year, Google will surpass the US$20 billion threshold for the first time.

Schmidt, 53, who became Google’s CEO in 2001, seems determined to stick around to reach his goal. He, Brin and Page have made an informal pact to remain the company’s brain trust through 2024, at least. But some rivals are determined to thwart Google. TV and movie conglomerate Viacom Inc. is suing Google for US$1 billion for alleged copyright infringement at YouTube, while Microsoft signaled how desperately it wants to topple Google by offering to buy Yahoo for US$47.5 billion this year.

Microsoft withdrew the takeover bid in a dispute over Yahoo’s value, but some analysts still think those two companies may get together if they fall farther behind Google.

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