Alphabet changed its corporate name from Google in 2015 and became one of the world's largest companies by market value.
Google announced the Alphabet restructuring in August 2015, and Alphabet became the publicly traded parent company later that year. Google remained the largest subsidiary, while other businesses and projects were placed under the new corporate structure.
The change separated Google's core internet products from initiatives such as life sciences, investment activities, and experimental technology projects. Sundar Pichai became Google's chief executive, while Larry Page became Alphabet's chief executive and Sergey Brin became its president.
Alphabet's market value has been powered chiefly by Google Search advertising, YouTube, and the Google Cloud business. A frequent mistake is treating Alphabet and Google as identical legal entities: Google is the main operating company, while Alphabet is the parent corporation whose shares trade publicly.