You might have noticed that Google has been doing a lot more than just running the world’s largest search engine lately. Not only has this many-tentacled beast scooped up Youtube, it’s had its hands in more pies outside the computer world than you would imagine. For example, one of its divisions is Calico, a division devoted to life-extension research. Then, of course, there’s that self-driving car, those smart glasses worn by the obnoxious person in front of you in the Starbucks line, and that smart thermostat that saves you from the difficult task of turning the heat down while you’re away at work.
With all these crazy projects going, it was time for the company to make some changes. Google is re-organizing under a big holding company called Alphabet. Its internet services division will retain the name Google, as well the search engine. Android and Chrome will also continue to fall under the Google name. Other businesses like Calico, Nest, and Fiber (Google’s ethernet expansion project) will now be under Alphabet instead.
The main reason for this change is flexibility. Previously, all divisions of Google reported to the Google CEO. Now, each division will be its own company with its own CEO. Meanwhile, Alphabet’s main duty will be to assign resources to all of its subsidiary companies. This helps the company pursue its riskier endeavors while pleasing shareholders who are most interested in the performance of Google’s central information technology business.
Why should you care about this Alphabet soup? Well, we gamers tend to make use of a lot of Google’s services, like its search engine, Youtube, and Android devices like phones and tablets. Google’s new CEO will be able to focus more strongly on the Google services you use every day, hopefully allowing changes and improvement to happen more quickly. Otherwise, well, you’ll still be calling most of the stuff you use “Google.” But if you ever happen to rear-end an Alphabet car, well, now you kinow who owns it.