Google 2015 Annual Report Download - page 9

Table of Contents Alphabet Inc. and Google Inc.
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countries covering certain of our technology, and acquired patent assets to supplement our portfolio. We have licensed
in the past, and expect that we may license in the future, certain of our rights to other parties.
Culture and Employees
We take great pride in our culture. We embrace collaboration and creativity, and encourage the iteration of ideas
to address complex technical challenges. Transparency and open dialogue are central to how we work, and we like
to ensure that company news reaches our employees first through internal channels.
Despite our rapid growth, we still cherish our roots as a startup and wherever possible empower employees to
act on great ideas regardless of their role or function within the company. We strive to hire great employees, with
backgrounds and perspectives as diverse as those of our global users. We work to provide an environment where
these talented people can have fulfilling careers addressing some of the biggest challenges in technology and society.
Our employees are among our best assets and are critical for our continued success. We expect to continue
investing in hiring talented employees and to provide competitive compensation programs to our employees. As of
December 31, 2015, we had 61,814 full-time employees: 23,336 in research and development, 19,082 in sales and
marketing, 10,944 in operations, and 8,452 in general and administrative functions. Although we have work councils
and statutory employee representation obligations in certain countries, our U.S. employees are not represented by a
labor union. Competition for qualified personnel in our industry is intense, particularly for software engineers, computer
scientists, and other technical staff.
Seasonality
Our business is affected by both seasonal fluctuations in Internet usage and traditional retail seasonality. Internet
usage generally slows during the summer months, and commercial queries typically increase significantly in the fourth
quarter of each year.
Information about Segments and Geographic Areas
Please refer to Note 16 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II of this Annual Report
on Form 10-K.
Other Matters
As part of the Alphabet reorganization, we expect to convert Google Inc. into a limited liability company.
Available Information
Our websites are located at www.google.com and www.abc.xyz, and our investor relations website is located at
www.abc.xyz/investor. Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and our Proxy Statements
are available through our investor relations website, free of charge, after we file them with the SEC. We also provide
a link to the section of the SEC's website at www.sec.gov that has all of the reports that we file or furnish with the SEC.
You may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE,
Washington, D.C. 20549. You can get information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC
at 1-800-SEC-0330.
We webcast via our investor relations website our earnings calls and certain events we participate in or host with
members of the investment community. Our investor relations website also provides notifications of news or
announcements regarding our financial performance, including SEC filings, investor events, press and earnings
releases, and blogs. Further corporate governance information, including our certificate of incorporation, bylaws,
governance guidelines, board committee charters, and code of conduct, is also available on our investor relations
website under the heading "Other." The content of our websites are not incorporated by reference into this Annual
Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or document we file with the SEC, and any references to our websites are
intended to be inactive textual references only.