Alphabet owns the YouTube video platform and the Android mobile operating system.
Alphabet became Google’s parent company in 2015 through a corporate reorganization. Google remains Alphabet’s largest subsidiary and includes products such as Search, YouTube, Android, Maps, and Chrome. Alphabet also reports businesses outside Google, including the research and technology unit often associated with projects such as autonomous vehicles and life sciences.
YouTube was acquired by Google in 2006, while Android was acquired by Google in 2005. Those acquisitions helped extend Google’s reach from web search into online video and mobile computing. Alphabet has consistently ranked among the world’s most valuable public companies by market capitalization.
The corporate structure is sometimes misstated by saying that Alphabet directly operates every Google product as a separate company. In practice, Google is the principal operating subsidiary, while Alphabet is the publicly traded parent. Alphabet’s shares trade under the symbols GOOGL and GOOG.