Alphabet changed its corporate name from Google to Alphabet in 2015 while remaining one of the world’s largest companies by market capitalization.
The restructuring was announced in August 2015 and completed later that year. Google became a subsidiary of the newly created holding company, Alphabet Inc. Sundar Pichai became Google’s chief executive, while Larry Page became Alphabet’s chief executive and Sergey Brin became its president.
The purpose was to separate Google’s core internet businesses from other projects, including research, investment, and experimental technology ventures. Google continued to operate products such as Search, YouTube, Android, and Chrome.
Alphabet’s market capitalization reflects the combined value investors assign to the holding company’s businesses. A corporate name change does not itself create market value, but the new structure made the company’s different activities easier to report and manage.