Alphabet, one of the world's largest companies by market capitalization, is the parent company of Google.
Alphabet was created in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring. Google became a subsidiary, while Alphabet served as the holding company for Google and several other businesses and projects. Sundar Pichai became Alphabet's chief executive officer in 2019 after previously leading Google.
Google began as a search-engine project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University. The founders incorporated Google in 1998, and its search service became the central product of a rapidly expanding internet company.
Alphabet's businesses extend beyond search. Google operates YouTube, Android, Google Cloud, and advertising services, while Alphabet has also owned or backed projects in areas such as autonomous vehicles and life sciences. Alphabet is therefore the corporate parent, not the name of the search engine itself.