The Education of Google’s Larry Page

Larry Page is surrounded. On one side, Google’s chief executive officer confronts Facebook, the social networking phenom that is about to go public. On his other side is Apple, which has moved the playing field off the desktop computer—Google’s fiefdom—and onto smartphones and tablets. Thus Page, who became CEO of Google a year ago, has the task of steering the company he co-founded through territory defined by two rivals while fending off accusations that his brainchild has become yet another lumbering monopolist or, worse, a follower. READ THE BUSINESSWEEK COVER STORY