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Google heads for big changes

Kai Ryssdal and Molly Wood Aug 10, 2015
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Google heads for big changes

Kai Ryssdal and Molly Wood Aug 10, 2015
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Google is getting a makeover, becoming part of a bigger holding company called Alphabet. But why would anyone want to tinker with the structure of a company as successful as Google?

“What Alphabet is thinking here is to essentially streamline things,” says Molly Wood. But fear not, “Google the search engine, and Mail Company, and information gatherer will stay the same,” she says.

The decision behind this restructuring is that making money off of being a search engine can’t sustain a company forever. “It’s more a reflection that it can’t keep growing like a rocket ship,” Wood explains.

This move allows Google to be more focused. “Investors, and I think even employees at Google, had been calling for focus for a while. The company is really at risk of being distracted by all the things Larry Page and Sergey Brin want to do,” Wood says.

Wood explains that “investors are excited at the prospect of a more focused Google that could keep making them more money. And the possibility that Larry and Sergey, unleashed, might come across the next really, truly transformative money maker.”

Click on the media player above to hear the entire interview.

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