**Alphabet Inc.** is an American multinational technology conglomerate and holding company, primarily known as the parent of Google, overseeing diverse subsidiaries in search, AI, healthcare, autonomous vehicles, and more.[1][2][6] Founded by Stanford Ph.D. students **Larry Page** and **Sergey Brin**, Alphabet traces its roots to 1995 when the duo met and began developing a superior search engine, initially called Backrub. They incorporated Google on September 4, 1998, in a Menlo Park garage with $100,000 from Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim, kickstarting a revolution in information retrieval.[1][3][2] Google quickly expanded, launching hits like Google Maps (2005), Android (2007), Chrome (2008), and YouTube, while moving to its Mountain View "Googleplex" headquarters in 1999.[1][2][4] A pivotal shift occurred on October 2, 2015, when Page and Brin restructured Google into **Alphabet Inc.**, inspired by models like Berkshire Hathaway. This created a leaner holding company, freeing Google to focus on core internet services (search, ads, YouTube, Cloud) while "moonshot" bets like Waymo (self-driving cars), Verily (healthcare), Calico (biotech), DeepMind (AI), and Wing (drone delivery) gained autonomy and transparency for investors.[1][3][4][6] Key achievements include DeepMind's AlphaGo defeating Go champion Lee Sedol in 2016, showcasing AI prowess, and Wing's 2019 FAA approval as the first drone delivery service.[1][6] Today, Alphabet ranks among the world's largest firms with a ~$2 trillion market cap, led by CEO **Sundar Pichai** since December 2018 after Page and Brin stepped back.[3][4] Google dominates search with the largest market share as o