Google to rebrand into holding company ‘Alphabet’

All the shares of Google will be converted automatically into Alphabet shares and the same rights will be retained by shareholders.

Google CEO Larry Page has announced some major changes within the company, and the web conglomerate as you know it might look pretty different.

Google, co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in California in 1998, has grown to more than 57,000 employees worldwide.

Google is set to undergo a significant company restructure that will see it transition to a new holding company called Alphabet.

Google’s reorganization isn’t expected to affect its mHealth interests that much, though it could allow the Internet giant to take a few more chances with new technology like the much-maligned Google Glass.

Chennai-born Pichai, 43, has been named CEO of the new Google, which Page said will be a “a bit slimmed down”.

Page said on the blog: “Sergey and I have been super excited about his [Pichai’s] progress and dedication to the company”.

Google Search, Maps, Advertising, Apps, Youtube, and Android will keep the original name, while Calico, Nest, Fiber, Ventures and Capital, and X lab will now all be part of the spin-off. The company has come under fire from investors in the past for using Google’s profitable search business to finance moves into riskier areas such as its efforts in Internet balloons or self-driving cars.

Mr. Pichai will oversee management, engineering and research for Google’s products and platforms, according to Google’s filing at the US Securities and Exchange Commission. “In general, our model is to have a strong CEO who runs each business, with Sergey and me in service to them as needed”.

This is unlikely – the major products that most Google users encounter every day, such as Search, Chrome and YouTube, are staying under the Google umbrella, so there shouldn’t be any change in how they run from a consumer perspective. “Our two classes of shares will continue to trade on Nasdaq as GOOGL and GOOG”, Page wrote in his blog on Monday.

Under the new structure, Google financials for the fourth quarter will be provided separately from those for the rest of the Alphabet businesses as a whole. But the name Google will not disappear, it will become a subsidiary of Alphabet.