Alphabet is the parent company that owns Google and is ranked under the Alphabet name in market-cap lists.
Google became a subsidiary of Alphabet in 2015, when the corporate structure was reorganized. The change separated Google’s core internet businesses from several other ventures, including research and technology projects managed through Alphabet.
Alphabet’s market capitalization therefore represents the value investors assign to the entire parent company, not only to the Google search engine. Its major businesses include Google Search, YouTube, Google Cloud, Android, and advertising platforms.
A frequent mistake is treating Google and Alphabet as two separately listed companies. Google remains the best-known operating brand, but Alphabet is the publicly traded parent. Alphabet has two widely discussed share classes, Class A and Class C, with different voting arrangements.