In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new kid on the block. Although the name may take you back to your childhood playing with blocks labeled, “A, B, C”, Google’s newest announcement is one to be excited about. Google made the announcement in their usual way, a blog post, with a little defense and a lot of giddiness. Claiming that like many of the things people thought were crazy to do in the past, which have resulted in billions of users: YouTube, Android, Chrome, etc., their new company Alphabet is sure to be a positive move for Google.

With words like “stoked” and “crazy”, CEO and post author Larry Page explained their main excitement about the new company as the following:

• “Getting more ambitious things done.

• Taking the long-term view.

• Empowering great entrepreneurs and companies to flourish.

• Investing at the scale of the opportunities and resources we see.

• Improving the transparency and oversight of what we’re doing.

• Making Google even better through greater focus.

• And hopefully…as a result of all this, improving the lives of as many people as we can.”

One of the strangest parts of this transition is when you visit Alphabet.com. As you attempt to visit Alphabet.com you’re stuck staring at a spiraling loading bar for minutes. This is most likely due to the high volume of traffic the domain is receiving with all of the press regarding Alphabet. But, why all the press? What’s so big about this announcement and why so much excitement? Let’s dive head first.

What Is It?

Alphabet is now home to several different companies, the biggest being Google. With Alphabet they are able to have several different CEO’s who independently manage each business. This is important because of the range of industries covered in Alphabet. Businesses range from the well known internet products to health and science businesses like Calico.

Having independent CEO’s for each business will help management better allocate each individual business need. Alphabet CEO Larry Page and President Sergey will monitor the overall well being of each business and the corporation as a whole, but leaving the bulk of the management for each individual business to the CEO’s who offer the greatest expertise. In a sense, this is what teamwork is all about. Allowing those who know what they’re doing to operate on their own, while having a strong management team overseeing the foundation. Go team!

What Can We Expect?

With a company as huge and talented as Google, it only makes sense to start segmenting sections of the company to better allocate efforts. Alphabet is designed to do this, as well as allot time for geniuses to do what they do best, like develop new product ideas and better technology as a whole.

Speaking of bettering technology, Alphabet will also home X lab, a semi-secret facility in charge of designing major technological advancement, and produce products like Wing, a drone delivery system. To make sure they cover as many industries as possible, Alphabet will also be home to Google’s investment companies, Ventures and Capital. Both Ventures and Capital offer investment and funding opportunities for new businesses, especially technology companies.

With a move as large as this, it’s expected for leaders in the industry to stand up and make claims about whether or not this is a good move. Though most are o-kay with the move, there are some clear pros and cons with Alphabet.

Pros

• By allowing people to do what they do best, and have a strong management team above them, we can expect even bigger technology advancements to happen over the next few years.
• Having CEO’s for different industries within Alphabet will better hold people accountable when oops moments happen. It will also help clarify certain data and information about each individual aspect of Alphabet’s companies. Let’s see those numbers!
• Segmenting out each business as it’s own company inside of Alphabet opens up several job opportunities. New CEO’s will need to be hired, as well as people with very specific skills. Instead of going to Google and requesting a career, job seekers will now have unique industries and areas to apply for that best suit their expertise inside of Alphabet.

Cons

• Some of the industry is speculating this change may be a sign for a permanent domain change. Since Alphabet’s domain ends in .xyz it wouldn’t be incredibly shocking if Google slowly moved us all over to .xyz and away from .com. Founder of .xyz, Daniel Negari, told WIRED Magazine the reason for the domain is simply that the alphabet ends in ‘xyz’, so why wouldn’t domain names?
• Many people aren’t entirely comfortable with the idea of technology advancement. They like smart phones and smart televisions, but flying drones are a little intimidating. Allowing further technology advancement means self-driving cars to hit dealerships sooner and technology in the healthcare industry to start showing up in a hospital near you

What is your opinion about Alphabet? Do you see any clear pros and cons? Comment below with your thoughts!