Brand of the day: Alphabet

Co-founder Larry Page announced via a blog yesterday evening that the firm is to be absorbed by Alphabet, with Chrome OS and Android chief, Sundar Pichai, appointed as chief executive of Google.

Page will now head up Alphabet, with fellow founder Sergey Brin set to serve as president.

Pichai will lead a “slimmed-down” search-focused Google, and while the news has been well received by the advertising industry, sources close to the matter say that some employees were shocked; with most staff being told only moments before the story broke.

Described by Page as "a collection of companies" that will make the tech giant "cleaner and more accountable", Alphabet will also own products outwith Google's main internet offerings – such as its health care technology.

Under the reorganisation, Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly-traded entity and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same number of shares of Alphabet.

The launch, however, wasn't without its Easter eggs.

Keen readers have spotted that Alphabet's homepage contains a secret link which leads to Hooli.xyz – the landing site of fictional research arm Hooli, as featured in HBO comedy series Silicon Valley.

The joke actually violates Google's rules against search spam, though its unlikely Alphabet will be dealt a penalty.

An unidentified individual even erected a redirect to Microsoft’s incumbent search engine Bing. Modeled on Alphabet's abc.xyz address, the mock-up used the link abc.wtf to ridicule the new company's name.

Discussing the name, Page said: "We liked 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."