Alphabet Inc. became Google’s parent company when Google’s corporate restructuring took effect in 2015. The reorganization separated Google’s core internet products from several other businesses and projects.
Alphabet was announced in August 2015 and became effective on October 2, 2015. Google remained the largest subsidiary, containing products such as Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome and Google Maps. Other businesses, including life sciences and investment activities, were placed under Alphabet or its associated structure.
Larry Page became Alphabet’s chief executive officer, while Sergey Brin became its president. Sundar Pichai became Google’s chief executive officer. In December 2019, Pichai also became Alphabet’s CEO, succeeding Page, while Brin stepped down as president.
The name Alphabet was chosen to represent a collection of businesses and, according to the founders’ explanation, the building blocks of language. Alphabet is sometimes mistakenly described as a replacement brand for Google’s search engine; it is actually the corporate parent, while Google remains the name of the principal subsidiary.