Google launched the Google search engine and went public in 2004 under the ticker GOOG.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google while they were students at Stanford University. The company was incorporated in 1998, building on their research into ranking web pages by analyzing links. That approach helped Google become the dominant global search provider and the foundation of a much larger technology business.
Google’s initial public offering took place in August 2004. The company later created Alphabet Inc. as a holding company in 2015, with Google becoming its largest subsidiary. Alphabet’s businesses include search, advertising, YouTube, Android, cloud computing, and several experimental projects.
GOOG refers to Alphabet’s Class C shares, which generally carry no voting rights. Alphabet also trades under GOOGL for its Class A shares, which carry voting rights. Thus, the company is commonly called Google in everyday use, while Alphabet is the legal parent company behind its large market capitalization.