Alphabet owns Google and became one of the world’s most valuable companies after a 2015 corporate restructuring.
Google announced the creation of Alphabet on August 10, 2015, and the new holding-company structure took effect later that year. Larry Page became Alphabet’s chief executive, while Sundar Pichai became Google’s CEO. The arrangement separated Google’s core internet businesses from several experimental or specialized ventures.
Google remained Alphabet’s largest operating business, covering search, online advertising, YouTube, Android, and cloud services. Alphabet’s other activities have included autonomous-vehicle development through Waymo and life-sciences projects associated with Verily. Search advertising has historically supplied the largest share of Alphabet’s revenue.
Alphabet is often confused with Google because Google is the better-known consumer brand. Alphabet is the publicly traded parent company whose shares represent ownership in the wider group. Its market capitalization therefore reflects investor expectations for Google as well as Alphabet’s other businesses and investments.