Seth Wenig/AP
Google announced in August that it planned to blow up its corporate structure by forming a new parent company called Alphabet to allow its different businesses to operate independently and move faster.
Google's core business - which encompasses search, YouTube, and Android - will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet, seperate from smaller units like the hardware maker Nest or "moonshot" factory Google X, which will be set up as their own companies under Alphabet as well. Each division will have its own CEO.
Today marks the company's legal filing to officially establish the structure, although there will be no change in day-to-day operations.
At market close, shares of Google stock (both Class C and A) will convert to shares of Alphabet stock, though the tickers will remain GOOG and GOOGL respectively.
Here's the full statement:
Google Inc. announced today that, pursuant to its previously announced plans to create a new public holding company, Alphabet Inc. ("Alphabet"), by implementing a holding company reorganization (the "Alphabet Merger"), it expects that the Alphabet Merger will close after the close of business on October 2, 2015. Google anticipates that shares of Google Class C Capital Stock and shares of Google Class A Common Stock will begin trading as Alphabet Class C Capital Stock and Alphabet Class A Common Stock, respectively, on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on October 5, 2015. Shares of Alphabet Class C Capital Stock and shares of Alphabet Class A Common Stock will continue to be traded under the same ticker symbols under GOOG and GOOGL, respectively.