Dive Brief:

• G is for Google – and A is for Alphabet Inc., the new holding company that co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have created in a broad restructuring. 
• Marketers now will have to sift through what the restructuring means – especially if new brands arise out of the new companies. 
• Google as we knew it will become one of the businesses under Alphabet, and will retain control over search, ads, maps, apps, YouTube, Android, and "the related technical infrastructure (the 'Google business')," according to the blog post.

Hello, world!

— Alphabet Inc. (@aIphabetinc) August 10, 2015

Dive Insight:

The core company that marketers have come to know will still be called Google. It's many of the other businesses that will not.

You're probably wondering: But what exactly is Alphabet? Soon-to-be Alphabet CEO Larry Page explained it is "mostly a collection of companies. The largest of which, of course, is Google. This newer Google is a bit slimmed down, with the companies that are pretty far afield of our main internet products contained in Alphabet instead."

Page said the decision stems from a desire to streamline the giant: "Our company is operating well today, but we think we can make it cleaner and more accountable." The move will likely allow Alphabet to separate the money-making Google businesses from the money-sucking moonshots – a move that will likely be met with praise from the investor community that has been begging for Google to stop throwing money at its many varied side-businesses. 

From a branding perspective, the choice of the name Alphabet signals the direction in which the greater company is headed. "Alphabet because it means a collection of letters that represent language, one of humanity's most important innovations, and is the core of how we index with Google search! We also like that it means alpha-bet (Alpha is investment return above benchmark), which we strive for!" Page wrote.

The move, which includes a restructuring of top executive posts, adds weight to the theory that Google's co-founders will focus more effort on growing the company's other, less mature businesses, while entrusting its more mature internet business to new CEO Sundar Pichai. (Page will be shifting up to CEO of Alphabet Inc, Brin hold the president spot.)

Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one. https://t.co/IgFi2DYn7H

— Alphabet Inc. (@aIphabetinc) August 10, 2015