Google rebrands as Alphabet and appoints new CEO
US tech giant Google announced overnight that it would rebrand itself with the creation of a new umbrella company called Alphabet.
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Google's co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page said they will lead the new company as president and CEO of Alphabet respectively, while Google itself will become an operating unit under the control of a new CEO, Sundar Pichai, who had been running Android and Chrome.
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Pichai's appointment was hailed by the company's executive chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt on its Twitter account.
Really excited about the vision and brilliance of Sundar.. he's going to be a great CEO! http://t.co/2bqtPEjoQH
— Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt) August 10, 2015
As a subsidiary of Alphabet, Google will keep hold of search, advertising, maps, apps, YouTube and Android, while Alphabet will manage each of its growing cast of offshoot businesses, including those building robots and self-driving cars, helping to cure disease, developing nanoparticles and its 'Loon' project to extend internet connectivity via balloon.
Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one
“As Sergey and I wrote in the original founders letter 11 years ago, ‘Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one’,” wrote Page.
The major restructuring is expected to give investors a greater insight into how the company's money is being spent.
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Shares in the tech behemoth went up 5% in after-hours trading.
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