The ABC of Alphabet: Google’s Founders’ Plans Beyond Search Engine

Why are Google’s founders creating a new company? Here’s an idea about what Larry and Sergey are planning on.

abc.xyz - Alphabet’s catchy new online address.

Chances are, you woke up to the news of Google’s massive restructuring under holding company Alphabet and Sundar Pichar’s appointment as Google’s new CEO.

Many people who are not clued in to the tech industry were probably wondering why Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin made this drastic move.

Under the new structure, Alphabet – to be run jointly by co-founders Larry and Sergey – would be the parent holding company for several companies including Google.

We’ve long believed that over time companies tend to get comfortable doing the same thing, just making incremental changes. But in the technology industry, where revolutionary ideas drive the next big growth areas, you need to be a bit uncomfortable to stay relevant.
— Larry Page

Alphabet has a catchy domain name – abc.xyz.

What Will Alphabet Own?

1. Google X

Directly overseen by Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin, Google X is the semi-secret facility dedicated to making major technological advancements. Driverless cars, Google Glass and drone delivery are just some of the products and services they are working on that we know about. Google X is also working on:

• Contact lenses that monitor glucose in tears
• Project Loon, which provides internet service via balloons in the stratosphere
• An artificial neural network for speech recognition and computer vision

2. Google Calico

Calico hopes to ‘cure death’, according to Time Magazine. Calico is a life science startup pursuing solutions for ageing and its associated diseases.

3. Sidewalk

A company focused on smart cities, Sidewalk Labs is described as an “urban innovation company” that will pursue technologies to cut pollution, curb energy use, streamline transportation and reduce the cost of city living.

4. Nest

Maker of Internet-connected devices for the home, Nest was formed by ex-Apple engineers and develops products designed to bring Big Data and the Internet of Things into our homes via its smart thermostats, fire alarms and security cameras.

5. Fiber

Google Fiber is a high-speed Internet service currently used in various American cities. The service promises speeds up to an insane 1,000MB per second.

6. Google Ventures and Google Capital

Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. (Photo: AP)

Google Capital invests larger sums in companies that have been around for a while and are already viable businesses. Google Ventures invests smaller amounts in more companies at an earlier stage.

What Will Remain Part of Google?

Google has grown from an Internet search engine to a far-reaching conglomerate that employs more than 40,000 people around the world.

Google’s re-structure involves a central unit handling corporate-wide activities such as finance and relatively independent business units focused on specific areas.

Under the new corporate structure, the Google unit will encompass the core search engine – google.com – as well Google Maps and YouTube.

A conversation between Larry Page and then CEO Eric Schmidt in 2004 can perhaps explain Page’s ambitions better.

“How many engineers does Microsoft have?” Page asked.
Page was told Microsoft had about 25,000 engineers.
“We should have a million,” Page said.
— From the book, The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy