Loic Venance—AFP
Google’s new parent company encourages all employees to follow the law and act honorably.
Google’s new parent company hit the stock market on Monday with an inked credo to “Do the right thing”—a spin on the founding principle “Don’t be evil.”
“Employees of Alphabet and its subsidiaries and controlled affiliates should do the right thing—follow the law, act honorably, and treat each other with respect,” the company said in a code of conduct posted online.
Alphabet subsidiaries include Google, Nest Labs, and Google X labs devoted to big-vision new technologies such as self-driving cars. Alphabet called on employees to also follow codes of conduct established by subsidiaries for which they work.
“We rely on one another’s good judgment to uphold a high standard of integrity for ourselves and our company,” the Alphabet code said.
Google’s motto of “Don’t be evil” took hold informally not long after the California-based Internet search company was founded in late 1998 and went on to be included in regulatory filings ahead of its stock market debut in 2004. Alphabet—the new parent of the Google search unit and a variety of other separate technology divisions—trades under the old GOOG and GOOGL symbols on the Nasdaq exchange.
Google’s new corporate structure took effect on Friday, with shares of “Alphabet” hitting the stock market on Monday. Alphabet shares trading under GOOG were up slightly more than two percent to $640.98 as the close of the market neared on Monday.
Google in August announced its plan to reshape under newly formed parent. The move gives the tech giant more ability to focus on its core business, while offering startup-like flexibility to long shot, trailblazing projects.
Alphabet is the corporate parent, overseeing the Google unit for search and a handful of other operating firms created for projects in health, Internet delivery, investment and research.
While Google is best known as the dominant player in Internet search, it has launched a variety of projects in recent years that are marginally related at best to its core operation. The projects include self-driving cars, smart spectacles “Google Glass”, Internet balloons, drones, health care, Google TV, mobile payments, home automation and its Google+ social network, among others, none of which has become successful.
Chief executive Larry Page holds the same position at the new parent group, with executive chairman Eric Schmidt doing the same. The Google unit, headed by current company vice president Sundar Pichai, includes search, ads, maps, YouTube, Android and related technology infrastructure.