Google took everyone by surprise when it announced yesterday that a new holding company, named Alphabet, will manage Google and all of its other products. CEO Larry Page says Alphabet means a “collection of letters that represent language, one of humanity’s most important innovations, and is the core of how we index with Google search!”
Now everyone would assume that a trip to Alphabet.com would take you to the new holding company, but instead it takes you to a BMW Group-owned business mobility solution with a focus on fleet management and financing. Alphabet.com is currently getting hammered with traffic and it’s not accessible. Alphabet was founded in 1997, so it remains to be seen if BMW and Google will agree on the name transfer. BMW also owns the trademark Alphabet.
A BMW spokeswoman said Tuesday that the automaker was not informed ahead of time of plans by Google to create a company called Alphabet and had not received any offers to buy the Internet domain or the trademark.
“We are not planning to sell the domain,” said Micaela Sandstede, a BMW spokeswoman in Munich. She described the website as a “very active” part of Alphabet’s business.
For now, Google’s Alphabet – or is it the other way around? – is accessible via abc.xyz.
