Alphabet changed its name from Google Inc. to Alphabet Inc. in 2015 and became a market-cap giant.
The corporate restructuring was announced in August 2015 and completed later that year. Alphabet became the holding company, while Google remained the core subsidiary responsible for search, advertising, Android, YouTube, and related products. The structure separated Google’s mature internet businesses from newer projects such as life sciences and other technology ventures.
Alphabet’s market capitalization is driven primarily by Google’s advertising business. Google Search and YouTube connect users with advertisers at enormous scale, while Google Cloud provides another major source of revenue. The company’s valuation also reflects expectations about artificial intelligence and future digital services.
A frequent mistake is calling Alphabet simply “Google” in a question about the listed parent company. Google is the best-known operating business; Alphabet is the publicly traded corporate parent created by the 2015 reorganization.