Sergey Brin

The battle for tech dominance continues. Last month the Google Guys took the fight to Microsoft with the launch of Web browser Chrome; attempting to steal some of Internet Explorer's 75% market share. Brin emigrated from Russia. Professor's son met partner Larry Page in computer science Ph.D. program at Stanford. Duo dropped out in 1998 to start Google from friend's garage. Initial financing came from angel investors K. Ram Shriram, Andy von Bechtolsheim, professor David Cheriton; then superstar venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital pitched in $25 million. Longtime tech exec Eric Schmidt brought on 2001; took company public 2004. Stock down 40% since alltime highs last November. Sales: $16.6 billion. Net margins: 25%. Brin focuses on Google's technology sector.