It’s all right if the answer is “no” — it’s hard to keep up with this tech giant’s wheeling and dealing. Meanwhile, Google’s own video platform, Google Video, which was also launched in 2005, had failed to generate much traffic. Google’s acquisition of YouTube in late 2006 gave it a new, powerful video platform. YouTube has grown into a significant source of Alphabet’s ad revenue, while also generating revenue through premium and YouTube TV subscriptions. / Sign up for Verge Deals to get deals on products we’ve tested sent to your inbox weekly. Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest.
Acquisitions
This strategy helps the company extend its reach far beyond its original search engine roots, pursuing a future where its technology intersects with almost every aspect of our lives. From artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous vehicles to health technology and cloud computing, Alphabet’s acquisitions reflect its commitment to leading innovation and diversifying its portfolio. However, Google also generates revenue from other sources, including sales of apps, in-app purchases, hardware, and licensing and service fees, including those received from Google Cloud and other products. AdMob is a digital advertising company that focuses specifically on mobile, app-based ads. If you’ve ever come across a banner, video, pop-up, or another style of ad while using an app, you’ve probably seen an AdMob product without even knowing it. AdMob focuses on making its product easy and streamlined for both app developers and users.
Current and future subsidiaries under Alphabet have more autonomy to chase separate goals and enter new markets. The former became the parent company, and the latter is now a subsidiary of it. Google shares have also converted to Alphabet stock and retain their ticker symbols as GOOG (Class C shares without voting rights) and GOOGL (Class A common stock) on the NASDAQ stock exchange and other platforms. GV provides seed, venture, and growth stage funding to tech companies in a variety of industries that includes healthcare, AI, software, hardware, life sciences, transportation, agriculture, and cyber security.
What is the future of Alphabet Inc.?
Some of the Verily’s notable projects include smart contact lenses for glucose monitoring, wearable devices for tracking tremors in Parkinson’s disease patients, and the development of a COVID-19 testing program. Verily aims to apply technology and science to improve healthcare outcomes for people around the world. The company has a core focus on innovative solutions that tackle difficult health problems related to chronic and infectious diseases. Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google Life Sciences) is a research organization that was founded in 2015 as a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Google Life Sciences was a division of Google X until Sergey Brin announced that it would transition to an independent subsidiary. Google Fiber is a subsidiary that provides broadband internet and IPTV to homes in the United States via fiber-to-the-premises.
Investments and acquisitions
Most of these Google-owned companies’ revenue comes from service fees, hardware, in-app purchases, app sales, licensing fees, digital content products, and advertising. Google, along with Alphabet, Inc., reported a market cap of $650 billion, making the dynamic duo a no-brainer stock for investors. Since 2015, Alphabet has acquired more than 160 companies, but as of 2024, Google’s legacy services—including Search, YouTube, and Android—remain the company’s primary revenue drivers.
Alphabet has created and acquired hundreds of companies over the years, though, as we’ve covered, some continue to operate within Google. Page and Brin also continue to play an active role in the Google and Alphabet businesses, though their official positions have changed over the years as they stepped down to make room for a new CEO. As you’re probably more than aware, Google is still around and some brands, like YouTube and Fitbit, continue to fall under the Google name. However, most companies owned by the tech giant now consider Alphabet their home instead. Google Maps is a free-to-use app with an impressive user base of over 1 billion. It has been reported as the preferred navigation app for almost 80% of Android phone users and almost 70% of iPhone users.
- After Doctoroff stepped down due to poor health in late 2021, Sidewalk Labs was folded into Google.
- DoubleClick was founded in 1996 and became one of the stock-market stars of the dot-com era and a leader in the first generation of online advertising during the 1990s.
- CapitalG currently has more than $3 billion invested in projects like CrowdStrike, Lyft, and UiPath.
- Google did not release the financial details of the Elastifile acquisition.
- The new “slimmed down” Google, as current CEO Larry Page put it, will now be run by Sundar Pichai, hitherto the company’s product chief.
DoubleClick was founded in 1996 and became one of the stock-market stars of the dot-com era and a leader in the first generation of online advertising during the 1990s. Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman paid $1.1 billion in a “take-private” transaction to become majority owners of the company in 2005. Google closed the Fitbit buyout in January 2021 after the deal was first announced in November 2019. The purchase added to its wearable device lineup following its companies owned by google acquisition of the Timex smartwatch technology in 2019. Alphabet has become one of the world’s largest technology conglomerates, with a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion as of Aug. 22, 2024. The company posted a net income of $73.80 billion on revenue of $307.39 billion for 2023.