Alphabet is the parent of Google and became a publicly traded company after a 2015 corporate reorganization.
The reorganization made Google a subsidiary of Alphabet and placed other ventures, such as the research organization formerly known as Google X, within the wider corporate structure. Google’s core businesses remained the main economic engine, especially search advertising, YouTube, and cloud services.
Alphabet uses a dual-class share structure, giving different classes of shares different voting rights. This allows founders and certain insiders to retain substantial control even though the company’s shares trade publicly.
The holding-company structure helps separate Google’s mature internet businesses from longer-term projects. Alphabet’s market capitalization therefore reflects both Google’s profits and investor expectations for businesses such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence.