Google to Alphabet: Find out what really happened

We woke up to some phenomenal news this morning. Google had taken on a new name. Alphabet is what it is now known as. It’ll be a collection of companies. Like a bag of pennies. One of them is the letter G. And as Larry Page puts it, “G is for Google.” Could Europe be the reason? Although there have been mixed reactions, mostly positive, regarding the change, the development is significant due to the background in Europe. Late last year, we read reports of how the EU overwhelmingly backed **a motion urging anti-trust regulators to break up Google** , a setback for the world’s most popular Internet search engine. The EU has a respected reputation of ensuring monopolies aren’t allowed in the market. The phenomenal rise of Google in recent years was becoming a matter of concern, and the EU believed the right thing to do for a level playing field was to split the company into several entities. The non-binding resolution in the European Parliament was the strongest public signal of Europe’s concern with the growing power of U.S. tech giants. It was passed with 384 votes for and 174 against. Microsoft and Bell Labs have been at the receiving end of anti-trust regulations in the past. What Google seems to have done is the wise thing. Prepared to rebrand itself into a group and get into the groove of separate accounts. For a detailed look at the product portfolio of Google, refer to the following PDF:

German conservative lawmaker and co-sponsor of the bill Andreas Schwab said it was a political signal to the European Commission, which is tasked with ensuring a level playing field for business across the 28-country bloc. Better focus With a product portfolio so diverse, it makes absolute sense to focus better on each product category. That’s how companies evolve from a garage to be large global conglomerates. Leaders such as Sundar Pichai have risen up the ranks in Google. And have been at the helm of its most important businesses. Founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin have rightly identified the potential in Pichai to let him lead Google, which is now a part of the group of companies called Alphabet. The split and a dedicated CEO for each vertical might just be the best thing to happen to Google. However, Google now stands at crossroads. It could go the Apple way, or it could go the Yahoo way. All of them have exciting origins, but over the course of years, be led to excellence or get lost in transition. And how does this impact us? For one, Larry Page has detailed what lies ahead in the Google blog. To begin with, there’s a new website for Alphabet and it’s abc.xyz. It actually works! Page mentions in his post, “What is Alphabet? 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. What do we mean by far afield? Good examples are our health efforts: Life Sciences (that works on the glucose-sensing contact lens), and Calico (focused on longevity).” It’s interesting that Alphabet will have an interest in fields far beyond Search, Mobile, and Web. At the core of it, Google was all of that, plus Advertising where it earns most of its revenue. All of that stays as Google. Consumers will continue to interface with a brand called Google. How does the new formed company look? Page in his post adds, “Sergey and I are seriously in the business of starting new things. Alphabet will also include our X lab, which incubates new efforts like Wing, our drone delivery effort . We are also stoked about growing our investment arms, Ventures and Capital, as part of this new structure. Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly-traded entity and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights. Google will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet. Our two classes of shares will continue to trade on Nasdaq as GOOGL and GOOG.” Also, Larry Page will take over as CEO of Alphabet. Sergey Brin will be President and Eric Schmidt will be the Executive Chairman of Alphabet. The CFO of Alphabet will be Ruth Boran. David C. Drummond will be Chief Legal Officer and secretary. Chief Business Officer, Omid Kordistani, will step down to take on the new role of “advisor to Alphabet and Google” according to the company’s SEC filing.