Alphabet became Google’s parent company when Google reorganized under the new name in 2015.
The restructuring was announced in August 2015 and completed later that year. Alphabet became the holding company, while Google remained the main subsidiary responsible for products such as Search, YouTube, Android, and Chrome. Other businesses, including life-science and research projects, could be managed separately within Alphabet.
The change did not mean that Google disappeared. Google continued operating under its familiar name, and Alphabet’s stock-market value was based on the combined expectations for the parent company and its subsidiaries. This structure also helped investors distinguish Google’s core advertising business from Alphabet’s “Other Bets.”
Alphabet trades on the Nasdaq under the tickers GOOGL and GOOG. The two share classes have different voting rights, although both represent ownership in the same parent company.