The collective voices of the interwebs have been in an uproar with the news that Google will reorganize its companies under the umbrella company Alphabet. Besides the fact that Alphabet is trademarked by BMW, this restructuring is actually a good idea for Google to implement.
Thanks to company holdings from Android to Zagat, Google is no longer just the search engine/advertising powerhouse that Brin and Page built. Some of these companies are “moonshots”, very risky endeavors at the cutting edge of what’s imaginable – with large potential for big payoffs if the acquisitions are indeed ahead of the curve. This includes driverless cars, internet balloons, and a whole bunch of other ideas floating in what is now Alphabet’s portfolio.
Creating the Alphabet umbrella company isn’t that big a deal, either. Warren Buffet is perhaps one of the most famous people to do so, creating Berkshire Hathaway to buy entire companies instead of just trading shares. In a similar vein, Alphabet allows the same management to oversee the conglomerate of companies acquired, while narrowing down Google itself into the core components attributed to it, including its ubiquitous search engine, YouTube, Google Maps, and Android.
If the restructuring goes as planned, Google will be able to satisfy shareholders with its major creations, while at the same time allowing new companies test innovative areas of growth under the Alphabet insignia. I don’t know how this plan will ultimately turn out, but I do know this: as long as they continue to make Google Doodles, that’s good enough for me.
Andrew Jabara 