Alphabet Inc. facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Alphabet Inc.

Googleplex, home to Alphabet Inc. in Mountain View, California
Type	Public
Traded as	Nasdaq: GOOGL (Class A) Nasdaq: GOOG (Class C) Nasdaq-100 components (A & C) S&P 100 components (A & C) S&P 500 components (A & C)
ISIN	ISIN: [https://isin.toolforge.org/?language=en&isin=US02079K3059 US02079K3059 ISIN: US02079K1079 ]
Industry	Information technology
Founded	October 2, 2015; 9 years ago (2015-10-02)
Founders	Larry Page Sergey Brin
Headquarters	Googleplex, Mountain View, California , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	John L. Hennessy (Chairman) Sundar Pichai (CEO) Ruth Porat (President and CIO) Anat Ashkenazi (CFO)
Revenue	US$350.02 billion (2024)
Operating income	US$112.39 billion (2024)
Net income	US$100.12 billion (2024)
Total assets	US$450.26 billion (2024)
Total equity	US$325.08 billion (2024)
Number of employees	187,103 (June 2025)
Subsidiaries	Calico CapitalG Google Google Fiber GV X Development Isomorphic Labs Verily Waymo Wing

Alphabet Inc. is a very large American technology company. It is based in Mountain View, California. Alphabet is one of the biggest and most valuable tech companies in the world. It makes a lot of money and is known for its many different projects.

Alphabet was created on October 2, 2015. It was formed to organize Google and its many other businesses. Google became a part of Alphabet, along with other companies that used to be under Google. Alphabet's shares are traded on the Nasdaq stock market under the symbols GOOGL and GOOG. It is considered one of the "Big Five" American technology companies. The others are Amazon, Apple, Meta (which owns Facebook), and Microsoft.

The founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, created Alphabet. They wanted Google to focus on its main internet services. This also allowed other projects to grow on their own. In December 2019, Page and Brin stepped down from their main leadership roles. Sundar Pichai became the new CEO of Alphabet. He is also the CEO of Google. Page and Brin still work for Alphabet and are important members of its board.

Alphabet Inc. has faced some challenges. These include discussions about privacy and business rules. In 2023, the company made some changes to its team. About 12,000 employees were affected by these changes.

How Alphabet Started

Creating a New Company

On August 10, 2015, Google announced a big change. They planned to create a new company called Alphabet Inc. Larry Page, who was Google's CEO, shared this news. Alphabet was made to reorganize Google. It moved many of Google's smaller companies under the new Alphabet umbrella. This helped Google focus on its main internet business.

The new Alphabet company included Google itself. It also included other businesses like X Development, Calico, Verily, Fiber, and Waymo. Sundar Pichai, who was in charge of Google's products, became the new CEO of Google. Larry Page and Sergey Brin moved to lead Alphabet.

Larry Page explained that this new structure would help them manage things better. He said it would allow different projects to run independently. He also mentioned that Google would become "a bit slimmed down." This meant that projects not directly related to Google's main internet products would be part of Alphabet. Page wanted to make Google "cleaner and more accountable."

Inspiration for the Structure

A former executive, Eric Schmidt, shared where the idea for Alphabet came from. He said it was inspired by Warren Buffett and his company, Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company with many different businesses. Each business has strong leaders who are trusted to run their own operations. Schmidt encouraged Page and Brin to meet with Buffett to learn from him.

The Big Change

Before Alphabet was created, Google Inc. owned Alphabet. But then, the roles were switched. A new company was made to own Alphabet. This new company then merged with Google. Google's stock then became Alphabet's stock. This big change happened without needing a vote from shareholders. This is allowed under the laws where Alphabet is set up. The reorganization was finished on October 2, 2015. Alphabet kept Google Inc.'s stock history. It still trades under the old Google stock symbols, "GOOG" and "GOOGL."

On December 3, 2019, Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced they would step down from their leadership roles. They remained employees and still had a lot of say on the board. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, took over as CEO of Alphabet.

In mid-2022, the company completed a stock split. This made their shares more accessible.

In January 2023, Sundar Pichai announced some team adjustments. About 12,000 jobs were affected. Pichai explained that the company had grown very fast in previous years. They had hired for a different economic situation than the one they faced.

In January 2024, Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car division, asked for permission to expand its service in Los Angeles. This would allow them to use their cars more widely in the city.

In August 2024, a court found Alphabet had violated business rules. This was after a lawsuit from the United States Department of Justice. Alphabet has appealed this decision.

On December 10, 2024, Alphabet's shares went up. This happened after they showed off their new quantum computing chip, Willow. This chip solved a very hard problem in just five minutes. A regular computer would take much longer than the age of the universe to do the same task. Willow helps reduce errors in quantum computing. It can also fix them in real time. This could lead to big discoveries in science, medicine, and money.

How Alphabet is Organized

Alphabet Inc. is like a parent company for many different businesses. Here are some of them:

As of September 1, 2017, Alphabet's companies are owned by a special company called XXVI Holdings, Inc. The name "XXVI" is Roman numerals for 26, which is the number of letters in the alphabet. This helps keep the companies separate from Google for legal and financial reasons. At the same time, Google was reorganized into Google LLC.

Eric Schmidt said in 2015 that there might be more than 26 Alphabet companies in the future. He was meeting with the leaders of the current and planned Alphabet businesses. He said, "You'll see a lot coming."

Even though many companies moved under Alphabet, Google is still the main company for all of Alphabet's internet-related businesses. This includes popular products like the Android operating system, YouTube, and Google Search. These are still directly part of Google.

Some companies that used to be part of Alphabet have changed. For example, Nest Labs became part of Google in 2018. Loon LLC, a company that aimed to provide internet using balloons, closed down in January 2021. In July 2021, Alphabet announced Intrinsic, a new robotics software company. In November 2021, they announced Isomorphic Labs, which uses AI for drug discovery.

Who Owns Alphabet

Most of Alphabet is owned by large investment groups. These groups own over 60% of the shares. The founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, each own about 3% of all shares. However, they, along with other key people, control most of the voting shares. This means they have a lot of say in how the company is run.

Some of the largest shareholders in December 2023 included:

• The Vanguard Group
• BlackRock
• State Street Corporation
• Sergey Brin
• Larry Page
• Fidelity Investments

Leaders at Alphabet

• Chair: John L. Hennessy (since February 2018)
• Chief Executive: Sundar Pichai (since December 2019)
• President and Chief Investment Officer: Ruth Porat
• Chief Financial Officer: Anat Ashkenazi
• Chief Accounting Officer: Amie Thuener O'Toole

Past Leaders

• Former Board Chair: Eric Schmidt (2015–2017)
• Former Chief Executive: Larry Page (2015–2018)

What the Name Alphabet Means

Larry Page explained why they chose the name Alphabet. He said:

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!

In 2018, Eric Schmidt shared that the idea for the name also came from a street address. It was the address of Google's Hamburg office: ABC-Straße.

Alphabet uses the website address abc.xyz. They chose the .xyz internet ending, which came out in 2014. Alphabet does not own alphabet.com. That website belongs to a car company division of BMW. Also, they do not own abc.com, which is the website for the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company.

Google's original goal was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Their unofficial motto was "Don't be evil." In October 2015, Alphabet adopted a similar motto in its rules: "Do the right thing." The original motto stayed in Google's rules.

Alphabet's Money Matters

Here's a look at Alphabet Inc.'s financial trends each year (ending December 31):

In 2017, most of Alphabet's money (86%) came from advertising. This includes ads people click on and brand advertising. More than half of this money (53%) came from outside the United States. In 2017, their total revenue was about $110.8 billion. Their net income was about $12.6 billion.

On February 1, 2016, Alphabet Inc. briefly became the world's most valuable public company. It passed Apple. But Apple quickly took back the top spot a few days later.

As of 2019, Alphabet was ranked No. 15 on the Fortune 500 list. This list ranks the largest U.S. companies by their total money earned.

On January 16, 2020, Alphabet reached a huge milestone. It became the fourth U.S. company to be worth $1 trillion. This put it in the "trillion dollar companies club" for the first time.

In October 2022, Alphabet saw its slowest growth in sales in almost ten years. This was due to a possible global economic slowdown.

In 2022, Alphabet spent a lot on research and development. They spent about $39.5 billion. This made them the company with the second-highest spending on R&D worldwide.

In 2023, Alphabet was ranked 7th among the world's largest public companies.

On April 26, 2024, Alphabet's market value went over $2 trillion for the first time. This happened after they announced they would pay a dividend to shareholders. They also announced a large stock buyback program. The company's earnings for the first three months of the year were also better than expected.

As of June 2024, Alphabet is one of the top 10 companies in the MSCI KLD 400 Social Index.

Investments and Company Purchases

Investments

In November 2017, Alphabet Inc. led an investment round of $71 million. This was for a music startup called UnitedMasters.

Alphabet not only invests in new startups but also in bigger companies. This includes public companies like Uber and private ones like Medium.

Company Purchases

Alphabet is very active in buying other companies. In 2017, they bought seven startups that they had previously invested in. This shows how much they invest in new ideas and technologies.

See also

In Spanish: Alphabet para niños