Google to Launch a Foundation

Google Inc. is preparing to back up its do-good talk with a charitable foundation that will share the wealth spawned by its popular online search engine.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company plans to fund the foundation this year with 1% of its stock -- a commitment that translates to 2.7 million shares worth more than $500 million as of Wednesday. Google also intends to donate 1% of its profit to support the foundation.

“We hope someday this institution may eclipse Google itself in terms of overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world’s problems,” company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin wrote in a letter included among the documents covering the company’s initial public stock offering.

Google is searching for an executive director to run the foundation.