Alphabet, one of the world's most valuable companies by market capitalization, was created in 2015 as Google's parent company.
Google announced the new holding-company structure on August 10, 2015, and the reorganization took effect later that year. Alphabet became the corporate parent of Google and several other businesses, allowing the core internet products to operate separately from longer-term or more experimental ventures.
Larry Page became Alphabet's chief executive officer at formation, while Google co-founder Sergey Brin became president. Sundar Pichai became Google's CEO during the restructuring and later became Alphabet's CEO in 2019.
The year 1998 refers to Google's incorporation, and 2004 was the year Google held its initial public offering. Those dates are often confused with Alphabet's later creation.