Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) announced a plan to reorganize its management structure and lines of business, creating a new publicly traded entity called Alphabet. Google will become a wholly owned subsidiary (which contains core Google products such as Search, Android, Chrome, YouTube, and other applications such as Maps and Photos), led by newly named CEO Sundar Pichai. Previously, Pichai served as senior vice president, heading up Google-branded products for the Internet behemoth. The remaining assets of the newly formed Alphabet will include entities such as Nest, Fiber, Google X, life sciences initiatives, and corporate venture holdings. Larry Page and Sergey Brin will serve as CEO and president, respectively, of Alphabet, and will no longer serve in operating roles for the Google subsidiary. Ruth Porat will serve as CFO of both Alphabet and Google.
We believe the reorganization is generally positive for investors, as we believe the company's lack of transparency has created an overhang on the stock during the past year. Still, investors will own exactly the same assets after the reorganization, and we aren't likely to materially increase our $715 fair value estimate, though we reiterate our wide moat rating for the firm. The reorganization is planned for later this year.
Alphabet will disclose the financial results for its Google subsidiary separately from itself, in what we believe is the most positive outcome of the reorganization. Core to our thesis is our belief that operating leverage in the entire entity is likely to improve, as investments in the more nascent opportunities (including Nest, Fiber, and Google X), which are depressing operating margins, begin to bear fruit or wither. With discrete results reported for the Google business, investors will be able to understand the strength of the core while holding the company accountable for capital allocation in the remaining lines of business.
Longer-term positives are less obvious, in our view. We remain relatively neutral regarding the likelihood of businesses outside of Google's core generating outsized returns on capital; however, we do not view these investments in a negative light either. Still, as Alphabet evolves, the overall company will have richer opportunities for deal-making, flexibility for future shareholdermaximizing moves (such as spinouts, IPOs, and/or divestitures), and better alignment of incentives for employees.
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