Alphabet’s stock-market value is represented by two major share classes, GOOG and GOOGL.
Alphabet’s Class C shares trade under GOOG and generally carry no voting rights, while Class A shares trade under GOOGL and carry one vote per share. Alphabet also has Class B shares, which are not publicly traded and carry enhanced voting power.
This structure lets the company raise public capital while preserving greater control for insiders and founders. Because both listed classes represent equity in the same parent company, market-capitalization calculations generally combine their values rather than treating them as unrelated businesses.
The arrangement began with Alphabet’s formation in 2015, when Google reorganized under a new parent company. Share-class structures can make financial headlines confusing, since the prices of GOOG and GOOGL may differ slightly even though both are tied to Alphabet’s overall valuation.