Alphabet was created in 2015 to make Google a subsidiary alongside businesses such as Waymo.
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced the restructuring in August 2015. Alphabet became the publicly traded parent company, while Google’s core internet businesses were placed under a subsidiary led by Sundar Pichai. Page became Alphabet’s chief executive and Brin became its president.
The arrangement separated Google’s established products—such as Search, YouTube, and Android—from several other projects. Those businesses included Waymo’s autonomous-driving work and Verily’s life-sciences activities. The structure also gave Alphabet’s leaders a way to report and oversee different operations more distinctly.
Alphabet retained Google’s stock-market identity through a corporate reorganization rather than a conventional initial public offering. This is why market-value lists often name Alphabet even though consumers usually know the company through the Google brand. The name also prevents confusion between Google the subsidiary and Alphabet the listed parent.