Alphabet was created in 2015 during a restructuring of Google and its other businesses.
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced the new corporate structure in August 2015. Alphabet became the parent company, while Google remained the main operating company and continued to run products such as Search, YouTube, and Android.
The change separated Google's mature internet businesses from longer-term projects, including self-driving technology and life-science research. Page became Alphabet's chief executive, and Sundar Pichai became Google's CEO.
Alphabet is often confused with Google because Google remains its best-known subsidiary. Alphabet's market capitalization reflects the combined value investors assign to Google and its other businesses, rather than to Google Search alone.