Alphabet is the parent company of Google and became a separate public company in 2015.
Google announced the corporate restructuring in August 2015, creating Alphabet as a holding company. The change took effect in October 2015, with Google’s internet businesses becoming Alphabet’s largest subsidiary and other ventures placed alongside it.
Larry Page became Alphabet’s chief executive, while Sergey Brin became its president. Sundar Pichai took over as Google CEO and later became Alphabet CEO in 2019. Alphabet’s share structure and stock-market listing continued through the existing Google public shares.
A common mix-up is treating Alphabet and Google as identical names. Google remains the best-known operating company, handling products such as Search, YouTube and Android; Alphabet is the broader corporate parent. Investors usually refer to Alphabet’s market capitalization when comparing the company with other global giants.