In a recent press release posted to the official Google Blog, former CEO Larry Page announced that he and co-founder Sergey Brin have founded "Alphabet," a new parent company that will hold Google as a subsidiary. Brin will act as president of Alphabet, while Page will assume the position of CEO.
Page stated the goals of the rebranding and restructuring as:
- Getting more ambitious things done.
- Taking the long-term view.
- Empowering great entrepreneurs and companies to flourish.
- Investing at the scale of the opportunities and resources we see.
- Improving the transparency and oversight of what we’re doing.
- Making Google even better through greater focus.
- And hopefully...as a result of all this, improving the lives of as many people as we can.
This doesn't mean that you're going to lose your GMail account, or anything. Google will continue to manage its empire of media and technological ventures, including google search, android and maps, will continue to be managed by a new arm known as "Google Business." However, the ventures of the company that have become more cutting edge will be spun off into Alphabet, creating a streamlined Google that will continue to improve its core stable of services while minimizing financial risk that had previously arisen from Google's backing of start up ventures with its own assets.
What Alphabet will consist of is the more risky, cutting edge projects that previously operated under the Google banner. Page said in the aforementioned release that "Sergey [Brin] and I are seriously in the business of starting new things."
These ventures include Nest, the smart home company that manufactures "smart" thermostats and smoke alarms, Calico Labs, a research firm dedicated to anti-aging research, and Google Ventures, the venture capital arm that bankrolls startups like Uber, which we all know and love.
What is more exciting for those who await the next great Google (well, Alphabet now) project is something that Page referred to as "the X lab." He elaborated: "Alphabet will also include our X lab, which incubates new efforts like Wing, our drone delivery effort."
Financially, all publicly traded Google shares (NASDAQ: GOOG and GOOGL) will automatically convert to Alphabet shares later this year, and starting in quarter four of this year, Google's earnings reports will be reported separately from its new parent company.
Ultimately, Alphabet is a good thing for Google in my opinion, as it allows the diverse and fantastic endeavors they had previously incorporated under one large umbrella to shine independently, while the services that so many of us have come to depend on are allowed some room to grow.
