Page Lets Brin Choose Alphabet Name as Google Turns 28

Google turned 28 on September 4, marking nearly three decades since Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded the company. The duo's original search engine has grown into a global tech giant with Alphabet as its parent company. Google operates under Alphabet, which spans internet services, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, self-driving technology, and more.

The name 'Alphabet' was chosen by Sergey Brin after Larry Page chose the name 'Google'. The decision reflected their plans for a company that could grow beyond search. Google's original name was inspired by 'googol', a mathematical term for 1 followed by 100 zeros, reflecting the huge amount of information they hoped to organise and make available online.

Larry Page explained that he wanted a name that people would be proud to work for, but not another consumer brand like Google. Instead, Alphabet was intended as a broader company structure for businesses that could sit alongside Google. The creation of Alphabet allowed the founders to separate the core Google business from other projects.

Larry Page disagreed with the idea that a large company should focus on only a small number of products, saying it was 'stupid' if you can only do five things.