The timeline is relevant here. The article is dated June 1999. Google's first stab at selling advertising began in July 1999. When Jeff Dean arrived from DEC [

The timeline is relevant here. The article is dated June 1999. Google's first stab at selling advertising began in July 1999. When Jeff Dean arrived from DEC [...] Brin and Page told him that they needed an ad system. But they had no idea what a Google ad should be. Some at Google - including the director of technology, Craig Silverstein - thought that the whole effort was a distraction and that Google should outsource its ad system to some company more accustomed to waddling in the much of Mammon. "I was like, 'We're not an advertising company, we're a search company - let someone else worry about the advertising,'"says Silverstein. "It was good they did not take my advice." -- 'In The Plex' by Steven Levy Google started selling advertising in December 1999. At that time, "Google expected to make most of its money from licensing" its search technology, although it was hoped that "advertising might one day account for 10 to 15 per cent of its revenue." (In 2013, advertising accounted for 91% of Google's revenues.) AdWords was launched in October 2000. Schmidt joined as chairman in March 2001, and became CEO five months later.