Alphabet changed its name from Google’s corporate structure in 2015 and became a trillion-dollar company in 2020.
Alphabet Inc. was created in 2015 as the parent company of Google and several other businesses. Google remained the central operating company, while Alphabet provided a broader corporate structure for projects such as life sciences, autonomous vehicles, and other ventures. Sundar Pichai became Alphabet’s chief executive in December 2019.
Alphabet passed a $1 trillion market capitalization during trading on January 16, 2020. Its valuation was powered primarily by Google Search advertising, YouTube, and the rapidly growing Google Cloud business. The company’s stock-market value reflects investor expectations about future earnings as well as its current financial results.
Alphabet is often confused with Google because Google is its best-known subsidiary. Alphabet’s publicly traded shares represent the parent company, not a separately listed Google stock. The company also uses multiple share classes, giving its founders significant voting influence.