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| Alphabet Inc. and Google Inc. |
Alphabet Inc. and Google Inc.
NOTE ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, among other things, statements regarding:
as well as other statements regarding our future operations, financial condition and prospects, and business strategies. Forward-looking statements may appear throughout this report, including without limitation, the following sections: Item 1 "Business," Item 1A "Risk Factors," and Item 7 "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "projects," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and in particular, the risks discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of this report and those discussed in other documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.
As used herein, "our company," "we," "us," "our," and similar terms refer collectively to Alphabet Inc. and Google Inc., together with their subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
"Alphabet," "Google," and other trademarks of ours appearing in this report are our property. This report contains additional trade names and trademarks of other companies. We do not intend our use or display of other companies' trade names or trademarks to imply an endorsement or sponsorship of us by such companies, or any relationship with any of these companies.
ITEMÂ 1.
BUSINESS
Overview
As our founders Larry and Sergey wrote in the original founders letter, "Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one." As part of that, they also explained that you could expect us to make "smaller bets in areas that might seem very speculative or even strange when compared to our current businesses." From the start, the company has always strived to do more, and to do important and meaningful things with the resources we have.
To help accelerate this, we announced plans in August 2015 to create a new public holding company, called Alphabet. Alphabet is a collection of businesses -- the largest of which, of course, is Google. It also includes businesses that we combine as Other Bets and generally are pretty far afield of our main Internet products such as Verily, Calico, X, Nest, GV, Google Capital and Access/Google Fiber. Our Alphabet structure is about helping businesses within Alphabet prosper through strong leaders and independence.
At Google, our innovations in search and advertising have made our website widely used and our brand one of the most recognized in the world. We generate revenues primarily by delivering online advertising that consumers find relevant and that advertisers find cost-effective. Google's core products such as Search, Android, Maps, Chrome, YouTube, Google Play and Gmail each have over one billion monthly active users. And we believe we are just beginning to scratch the surface. Google's vision is to remain a place of incredible creativity and innovation that uses our technical expertise to tackle big problems. Our Other Bets are also making important strides in their industries, and our goal is for them to become thriving, successful businesses in the long term.
Serving Our Users
In many ways Google search -- and the clean white page with the blinking cursor -- is a metaphor for how we think about innovation. Imagining the ways things could be -- without constraint -- is the process we use to look for better answers to some of life's everyday problems. It's about starting with the "What if?" and then working relentlessly to see if we can find the answer.
It's been that way from the beginning; providing ways to access knowledge and information has been core to Google and our products have come a long way in the last decade. We used to show just ten blue links in our results. You had to click through to different websites to get your answers, which took time. Now we are increasingly able to provide direct answers -- even if you're speaking your question using Voice Search -- which makes it quicker, easier and more natural to find what you're looking for.
Over time, we have added other services that let you access information quickly and easily. What if we could develop a smarter email service with plenty of storage? That's Gmail. What if we could make a simpler, speedier, safer browser? That's Chrome. What if we could provide easy access to movies, books, music and apps, no matter which device you're on? That's Google Play. What if developers could use Google's infrastructure to easily build and scale applications? And what if people could collaborate and get work done from anywhere on any device? That's cloud and apps.
As devices proliferate, it's more and more important to ensure that you can navigate effortlessly across them -- that the technology gets out of the way, so you can move through this multi-screen world as easily as possible. It's why we're investing so much in platforms like our Chrome browser, Chrome OS and our Android mobile operating system. Ultimately, we want you to have speedy, secure access to whatever you need, wherever you happen to be, and on whatever device you may be using at the time.