SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google, which has been expanding far beyond its original business of Internet search advertising, is changing its operating structure by creating a new holding company called Alphabet.
The company says its new structure will give more independence to many of its wide-ranging and ambitious projects.
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Google to be part of new holding company, 'Alphabet'
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Alphabeat? Google's reorganizing into a Danish electro pop group? Cool!
Google announces "Alphabet," its new parent company http://t.co/XkbNiejAiT http://t.co/Q0A2lKURGX
Is alphabet going to be a verb now too? What will it mean? World domination? #Google #alphabet
The A to Z of Alphabet, the company that now owns Google http://t.co/veBUg9hiFF #VergeNews
Early for April Fools'. https://t.co/AIEQYhAOm1
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Under the plan announced Monday, Alphabet will be comprised of the core Google business - including Internet search, mapping and YouTube - along with newer businesses that will be managed separately, such as Google Fiber, Nest and the investment arm Google Ventures.
Google CEO Larry Page will become CEO of the new entity, with his co-founder Sergey Brin serving as president. Longtime Google executive Sundar Pichai, who has taken on increasingly important roles at the company in recent years, will be CEO of the core Google business.
Earlier on AOL.com:
The change may give investors a clearer picture of how much Google is spending on some of its newer ventures, like its effort to build a self-driving car, develop a glucose-sensing contact lens or install high-speed Internet fiber networks in a number of U.S. cities, said Colin Gillis, an investment analyst at BGC Partners.
But it may not signal much change in the current management structure, since Pichai has already been overseeing many of Google's core operations, Gillis said.
Google Inc. said its new chief financial officer, Ruth Porat, will hold the same title for both Google and Alphabet. Once the reorganization is complete, the company says its two existing classes of publicly traded stock will continue to trade on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbols "GOOG" and "GOOGL."
The Mountain View, California, company's stock was up about 5 percent in after-hours trading following the announcement Monday afternoon.
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A Google Street View vehicle collects imagery for Google Maps while driving down a street in Calais, northern France, on July 29, 2015. AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPE HUGUEN (Photo credit should read PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images)
An attendee looks through a Legendary Pictures Inc. branded Google Cardboard VR (virtual reality) viewer during the Comic-Con International convention in San Diego, California, U.S., on Thursday, July 9, 2015. Comic-Con International is a nonprofit educational corporation dedicated to creating awareness of comics and related popular art forms. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A PrecisionHawk employee demonstrates a drone featuring LATAS (Low Altitude Tracking and Avoidance System) in Durham, North Carolina, U.S., on Tuesday, July 7, 2015. Google Inc. is joining some of the biggest companies in technology, communications and aviation -- including Amazon.com Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Harris Corp. -- in trying to create an air-traffic control system to prevent mid-air collisions. PrecisionHawk, a Raleigh, North Carolina, drone company with about 100 employees, began developing its own drone traffic control system because the large agriculture and oil companies it flies for wanted something to keep tabs on unmanned flights. Photographer: Jason Arthurs/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Google staff explain the new 'Internet Cycles' that are designed to bring Internet training to Indian villages after its launch in Mumbai on July 3, 2015. Tata Trusts and Google India launched a special program called Internet Saathi to empower women and their communities in rural India by enabling them to benefit from the Internet. The joint initiative is aimed at bridging the technology gender divide, which currently puts women in rural India at further risk of getting marginalized in the society as the world around them benefits from getting online. AFP PHOTO / INDRANIL MUKHERJEE (Photo credit should read INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images)
