Alphabet Inc.

by joe 21:08 0 comments

Alphabet Inc. (commonly known as Alphabet) is an American multinationalconglomerate created in 2015 as the parent company of Google and several other companies previously owned by or tied to Google.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The company is based in California and headed by Google's co-founders, Larry Page andSergey Brin, with Page serving as CEO and Brin as President.^[6] The reorganization of Google into Alphabet was completed on October 2, 2015.^[7]Alphabet's portfolio encompasses several industries, including technology, life sciences, investment capital, and research. Some of its subsidiaries include Google, Calico, Google Ventures, Google Capital, Google X, and Nest Labs. Following the restructuring Page became CEO of Alphabet while Sundar Pichaitook his position as CEO of Google.^[1][2] Shares of Google's stock have been converted into Alphabet stock, which trade under Google's former ticker symbols of "GOOG" and "GOOGL".

The establishment of Alphabet was prompted by a desire to make the core Google internet services business "cleaner and more accountable" while allowing greater autonomy to group companies that operate in businesses other than internet services.^[2][8]

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1 History
  • 1.1 .xyz Domain
• 2 Structure
• 3 Proposed Growth
• 4 Restructuring process
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Alphabet Inc.

Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: GOOGL NASDAQ: GOOG NASDAQ-100 components (GOOG and GOOGL) S&P 500 components (GOOG and GOOGL)
Industry	Conglomerate
Founded	October 2, 2015; 18 days ago
Founders	Larry Page Sergey Brin
Key people	Eric Schmidt (Executive Chairman) Larry Page (CEO) Sergey Brin (President)
Products	Internet Computer software Telecommunications equipment Health care Biotechnology Venture Capital
Subsidiaries	List of subsidiaries
Website	abc.xyz

History[edit]

On August 10, 2015, Google Inc. announced plans to create a new public holding company, Alphabet Inc. Google CEO Larry Page made this announcement in a blog post on Google's official blog.^[2] Alphabet will be created to restructure Google by moving subsidiaries from Google to Alphabet, narrowing Google's scope. The company will consist of Google, Nest Labs, and Calico, as well as other businesses including Google X, Google Capital, and Google Ventures.^[6][9][10] Sundar Pichai, current Product Chief, is to become the new CEO of Google, replacing Larry Page.^[11][12]

In his announcement, Page described the planned holding company as follows:^[2][13]

Alphabet is mostly a collection of companies. The largest of which, of course, is Google. This newer Google is a bit slimmed down, with the companies that are pretty far afield of our main internet products contained in Alphabet instead. [...] Fundamentally, we believe this allows us more management scale, as we can run things independently that aren’t very related.

As well as explaining the origin of the company's name:

We liked the name Alphabet because it means a collection of letters that represent language, one of humanity's most important innovations, and is the core of how we index with Google search! We also like that it means alpha‑bet (Alpha is investment return above benchmark), which we strive for!

Page says the motivation behind the reorganization is to make Google "cleaner and more accountable." He also said he wanted to improve "the transparency and oversight of what we’re doing," and to allow greater control of unrelated companies.^[2][8]

.xyz Domain[edit]

Google has chosen the domain abc.xyz with the newer .xyz top-level domain (TLD), which was rolled out in 2014. It does not own the domain alphabet.com, which is owned by a fleet management division of BMW. BMW has said that it is "necessary to examine the legal trademark implications" of the proposals.^[14][15][16]

Structure[edit]

Initial Alphabet Inc. company structure

Alphabet's largest subsidiary is Google Inc., but Alphabet is also the parent company to Calico, Google Ventures, Google Capital, Google X,Google Fiber, and Nest Labs. While many companies or divisions formerly a part of Google became subsidiaries of Alphabet, Google remains the umbrella company for Alphabet's Internet-related businesses. These include many of the most iconic products and services long associated with Google, such as the Android mobile operating system, YouTube, and Google Search, which remain direct components of Google Inc. and were not made subsidiaries of Alphabet.^[6][17]

Proposed Growth[edit]

Eric Schmidt said at an Internet Association event that there may eventually be more than 26 Alphabet subsidiaries. He also said that he was currently meeting with the CEOs of the current and proposed Alphabet subsidiaries. He said, "You'll see a lot coming."^[18]

Restructuring process[edit]

Alphabet was created as a subsidiary directly owned by Google Inc. The roles of these two companies – one as the owner and the other as the subsidiary – was then reversed in a two-step switch. First, a dummy subsidiary of Alphabet was created. Then Google merged with that dummy subsidiary while converting Google stock to Alphabet stock. The post-merger subsidiary, no longer a dummy, changed its name to "Google Inc." Under Delaware law, a holding company reorganization such as this can be done without a vote of shareholders, as this reorganization was.^[19]

The restructuring process was completed on October 2, 2015.^[7] Alphabet retains Google Inc.'s stock price history and continues to trade under Google Inc.'s former ticker symbols "GOOG" and "GOOGL"; both classes of stock are components of major stock market indices such as the S&P 500 and NASDAQ-100.