Have you heard? Google's overarching corporate structure is rebranding itself as "Alphabet." The company known as "Google" is getting slimmed down to a collection of Internet products, and Sundar Pichai, who was previously in senior vice president of "Products" in charge of Chrome, Android, and apps, is now the CEO of Google. Google's triumvirate—Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt—will work full-time on moonshots under the new umbrella company "Alphabet."
It's kind of confusing. Google isn't releasing an official list of what-division-goes-where until its Q4 financial results, and it seems crazy for a company with one of the top brands in the world to not use that brand. Sometimes, though, the "Google" brand can be harmful. The company has become a huge collection of unrelated projects, and the mere mention of the word "Google" throws some regulators into a legislative tizzy. "Alphabet" is a way for Google to clarify some things and separate the company into the way it really works.
Pichai’s opportunity to make “Google” mean something
In the 8-K form Google filed for the Alphabet transition, Google declares that "Search, ads, Maps, apps, YouTube, Android, and infrastructure" are part of the new, slimmed-down "Google," and "Calico, Nest, Google Fiber, Google Ventures, Google Capital, and Google X" are independent units under "Alphabet." Alphabet isn't a big change in the way Google works, just a formalization of the structure that seems to have been there for years. It's something I've been saying for some time now: Google doesn't function as a single company with a product vision, it's a collection of independent units.
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