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Google is now a wholly owned subsidiary of a new company called "Alphabet", to be run by Larry Page and Sergei Brin. Sundar Pichai will be CEO of Google, which will remain focused on its core of web-related products. Alphabet will serve as and umbrella for Google's now quite diverse projects, with a separate CEO for each. By way of example, the announcement cites a Life Sciences group, and a group called Calico which is focused on longevity.
All stock in Google will be converted to Alphabet stock, with the same rights and number of shares.
takyon: The Register, The New York Times, Wired, MarketWatch.
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Google Becomes Alphabet, Spins Off Google
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Anyone can make an omelet with eggs. The trick is to make one with none.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday August 11 2015, @11:59AM
Its a conversion from an acquisition only company to a company that at least occasionally sells.
Remember when google bought that stupid $300 hipster thermostat? Say they finally give up and want to sell the remains of "Google Thermostat" to Honeywell or WTF. Its "easier" to sell if they remain an owned subsidiary of alphabet with their own corporate name and brand and financial structure, than to carve off a slice of the google itself and invent a new marketing name etc.
No binary thinking allowed; no longer being 100% acquisition oriented doesn't mean they "must" be 100% sell oriented and will never acquire anything again. Just means they're trying to save money and time if/when they do sell some divisions in the indeterminate future.
Google proper is probably safe from sale. I could see something like google wallet throwing in the towel and getting sold someplace, if only they had a more salable name. Maybe what'll happen is something like they buy Paypal inc and put it under alphabet, merge goog wallet in, finally sell slightly bigger Paypal to some sucker.
I could see google self driving car, if it had a better name, getting sold to Tesla or Toyota or maybe, just maybe, Goog buying Tesla outright and keeping it at arms length underneath alphabet. Or during the downturn, Google buying Ford or GM.
To some extent they had to decide to do it this way or the General Electric way. GE has their fingers in every pie out there, although they have a somewhat different corporate structure.