Alphabet Inc.

Very nice analysis, and thorough. Your calculated valuation is similar to mine. It doesn't seem to be a particularly controversial opinion right now, at least on Reddit, that Google is a good buy at these prices. One risk I would add, though, is anti-trust. I would also say that Google's management seems to take a sort of 'throw it at the wall and see what sticks' approach to new projects. See here for example. It's very different than Apple's extremely planned, deliberate philosophy. This is not really bullish or bearish, just an observation from the outside--they try for moonshots, and are very willing let projects fail. More on reddit.com

Alphabet Inc is the only shareholder of Google. Those who had shares in Google got their shares transferred to Alphabet Inc. Even the stock tickers GOOG and GOOGL got transferred to Alphabet Inc. The reason to change the company structure and name is not quite clear. It is quite common in financial markets to be as diverse as possible. Having a separate holding company does allow you to be more diverse. There are a lot of cases when using one common brand for all your companies and products might not be the best way to do things. For example being diverse does mean that you invest in competing technologies and it might confuse people when two companies with the same brand are competing against each other. For example Alphabet Inc have companies delivering fiber internet and also researching satellite internet. It might be a bit odd to have Google Fiber compete against Google Satellite for customers. However dropping the Google brand makes sense in these cases and allows them to engage in healthy competition which benefits the holding company. You mention Berkshire Hathaway which is doing exactly this. They diversify their investments, use multiple recognized brands and creates an environment of healthy competition which benefits them the most. More on reddit.com

This is truly the end of an era. Google isn't led by Page and Brin anymore, the first time they don't. Pichai has been taking more and more responsibilities over time, but it seems like he's the only one at the very top now. Curious how this will play out. More on reddit.com