Google founders name Sundar Pichai as Google CEO, create new parent company called Alphabet

Out of the blue, Larry Page took to Google’s official blog this afternoon to announce the creation of a new company, Alphabet. So what is Alphabet? Just another of the many companies under Google? No, the exact opposite. Alphabet is a new umbrella company that is a collection of other companies, including Google.

Larry Page will act as CEO of Google’s new parent company, with Sergey Brin as President. As for Google? It is getting slimmed down a bit, with Life Sciences (a company that focuses on glucose-sensing contact lens), Calico (focused on longevity) and some of the other “way out in left field” projects moving under Alphabet’s wings. Yes, that means X Labs is also now under Alphabet and not directly associated with Google.

Google will remain focused on Internet products, Android, and other Google-y things with Sundar Pichai now moving into the position of CEO of Google itself. For those wondering, YouTube will remain a semi-independent part of Google as well, with Susan Wojcicki in charge as its CEO.

So why rebrand now? Basically, Google has grown into a giant monster. The idea is that restructuring will allow for better organization, with each company under Alphabet having its own “strong CEO who runs each business” with Sergey and Page “in service to them as needed”. In many ways, the new company will operate similar to the old one, but with more defined lines, better accountability, and more comprehensive structure. Alphabet Inc. will also replace Google Inc. as the publicly traded entity, and all shares of Google will convert into the same number of shares of Alphabet.

Obviously this a huge shake-up and totally unexpected. We’ll be sure to bring you more details as this story develops, as well as some reactions to how the creation of Alphabet changes the company’s structure and identity going forward. For those that want to do a bit more digging, Alphabet has already launched an official website, though there’s not much to see just yet.

What do you think of this massive news? Let us know in the comments below.