Initially, Google monetized the service by allowing businesses to purchase ads that would be pushed to nearby users. The crowd-sourced mobile traffic advisory device and navigation service was acquired five years later by Google, whose own Google Maps app was already seven years old by that time. Acquiring Waze eliminated competition; Google also saw Waze’s traffic-updating features as novel enhancements to Google Maps.
List of Top Companies owned by Alphabet
- The company’s knack for making calculated bets has reshaped the tech landscape, setting new standards for what’s possible.
- Alphabet will essentially be a holding company for Google, as well as all the projects, crazy ideas, capital investments, and subsidiaries that Google has acquired over the years.
- You might have a Nest thermostat in your home, but I bet you didn’t know that the company was bought by Google in 2014.
- Alphabet was founded as a search engine company in 1998 under the name Google Inc.
- The deal was one of the largest acquisitions in the company’s history—behind only Motorola Mobility, which Google purchased in 2012 for $12.5 billion.
The shake-up happened with the idea that it would allow all of its businesses to operate more effectively and efficiently, a move the company was said to be considering for four years. The move allowed CEO Larry Page to step back from day-to-day operations to “focus on the bigger picture.” In 2022, Alphabet’s revenue from Google websites (including YouTube advertising) was around 191 billion US dollars, up from 178 billion US dollars the previous year. The company started with the development of neural networks that learned to play early video games and then were able to beat human players at more complex games such as Go. The company’s investment focus is on emerging, long-term technology trends that are poised to drive disruption in their respective industries.
What is the future of Alphabet Inc.?
In reality, many “Other Bets” businesses still stayed as subsidiaries of Google LLC even after the 2015 transformation, and it was only recently when the whole transformation was finalized. Alphabet is a multinational technology company that Larry Page and Sergey Brin created on October 2, 2015. Page and Brin are Google’s co-founders and restructured the popular technology company to expand and diversify their operations.
Android: Estimated $50 million, 100% ownership since 2005
Businesses pay to have their corporate logos placed directly on the app. With around 800 million users registered in 2017, Google Drive is an extremely popular cloud storage app. Adsense acts as Google’s web vendor for advertising to non-Google websites.
Alphabet was founded as a search engine company in 1998 under the name Google Inc. Since then, Google has become the world’s most popular search engine, owning 91% of the global search market. Another X Labs project, Malta is an energy company providing electro-thermal energy storage solutions.
And the company is not afraid to pick up smaller rivals and innovators along the way, usually with price tags too small to merit reporting. Before the DoubleClick deal, Google only served text ads next to search results. The buyout elevated Google’s AdWords platform to a full-featured ad delivery service with graphic banners and publishing solutions across many websites other than Google.
Google has acquired at least 10 cybersecurity companies over time, but the Mandiant acquisition in 2022 casts a deep shadow over the smaller deals. The game-changing YouTube and Android deal would not have been possible if Google hadn’t started building a robust online advertising business first. Its first ad service was created from scratch, but the buyout of digital advertising leader DoubleClick took that operation to the next level. The smartphone wars started with the first iPhone release in 2007, followed by the first Android devices in 2008.
Advertising is thus a core part of Alphabet’s strategy and has guided many of its acquisition decisions, such as the purchase of DoubleClick in 2008 (see below). Google has tried several versions of Glass, smart glasses that function as wearable companies owned by google computers. The current business model targets industries where people need to access information while simultaneously working with their hands. Mechanics, doctors, factory workers, skilled tradespeople, and people in many other positions currently need to look away from their work to check computer screens or tablets. Glass Enterprise Edition is developing wearable smart glasses that help professionals check data without looking up from their work. Unless you’re in the business intelligence software or data analytics fields, you may not have heard of Looker.
FireEye then sold the company to Symphony Technology Group in June 2021, with Google then acquiring it in March 2022 for $5.4 billion. Ultimately, various assets were incorporated into the Google Cloud division in September of that year. Mandiant is a cybersecurity firm that was founded as Red Cliff Consulting in 2004 by Kevin Mandia. Mandia is the creator of OpenIOC (Open Indicators of Compromise), a scheme for the description of multiple characteristics that identify threats, evidence of compromise, and the methods of security hackers. As per its 2017 annual report, 86% of Alphabet’s revenues came from performance advertising (through user clicks using AdSense and Google Ads) and brand advertising.60 Of these, 53% came from its international operations.