Alphabet is the parent company that owns Google and YouTube.
Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, created Alphabet as a new holding company in 2015. Google became Alphabet's largest subsidiary, while several businesses and research projects were placed in separate units. Sundar Pichai became Google's chief executive in 2015 and Alphabet's chief executive in 2019.
The restructuring separated Google's core internet businesses from ventures such as Waymo and Verily. Google Search, advertising, Android, Chrome, and YouTube remain central to Alphabet's financial results, making the group one of the world's most valuable public companies.
A common mix-up is treating Google and Alphabet as interchangeable stock-market names. Google is the principal operating subsidiary; Alphabet is the publicly traded parent company. Alphabet's shares trade under the symbols GOOGL and GOOG, which differ mainly in voting rights.