Google is big – not just in market cap but in the breadth of what it’s trying to do. The ubiquitous use of Google as a verb speaks to how most people think of the company’s business. But the company is way beyond search, Android OS, Maps or Ads. In the past 3 years, the company has acquired companies and started divisions related to home automation (Nest), robotics (Boston Dynamics), drones (Titan Aerospace), AI (DeepMind), satellites (Skybox Imaging) and life sciences (Calico). A division called Google X became the bucket for some of the most “moonshots” of these acquisitions, some of which have spun off to separate divisions such as Google Glass (despite some claims, yes, it is still alive).

Many investors were starting to question Google’s focus and that of its CEO Larry Page. As Box CEO Aaron Levie once tweeted:

Google is focused. On everything.

— Aaron Levie (@levie) June 28, 2012

Google’s answer? Form a new holding company, Alphabet:

It’s not a name change. It’s a new corporate structure that will put Google as a subsidiary to Alphabet. It separates Google’s core business of search and ads from the “moonshots” and put the guy, Sundar Pichai, who has largely been in charge of that core business anyway, as CEO. A lot has been said on the implications of this move and one of the most succinct and informative articles I found is here. Just to share some highlights:

• Larry Page will be CEO of Alphabet, Sergey Brin will be President of Alphabet, Eric Schmidt will be Executive Chairman of Alphabet
• Sundar Pichai will be CEO of Google
• Google subsidiary will include: Android, YouTube, Search, Ads, Play, Cloud
• Other standalone businesses to become subsidiaries: Nest, Google Ventures, Google Capital, Fiber, Google X, Calico
• Ruth Porat will be CFO of Alphabet and remain as CFO of Google
• Shares of a class of Google stock will represent the same number of shares of the corresponding class of Alphabet stock
• The actual reorganization will happen later this year
• Alphabet is currently at http://www.abc.xyz; Alphabet.com domain is owned by BMW

I personally can’t wait how this reorganization turns out and how it will affect Google’s, or Alphabet’s, pursuit of moonshots.

Here are this week’s most relevant news in tech and retail:

In tech:

1. More Google: Bill Gates and Google join $120M funding for Massachusetts-based genome editing firm, Editas Medicine, Inc.; Google enters into agreement with DexCom to develop bandage-size glucose monitoring devices
2. Adobe joins Netflix, Microsoft in expanding maternity leave to 16 weeks for primary caregivers and 4 weeks for secondary caregivers
3. Tesla to raise $642M in stock offering; Elon Musk to purchase 84,000 shares worth around $20M
4. Smartphones companies: Samsung unveils Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Samsung Pay at Galaxy Unpacked 2015 event in New York; HTC announces plans to cut 15% of workforce after warning of an expected third-quarter net loss of up to 4.8B New Taiwan dollars
5. Researchers in Australia have developed 3D-printed brain tissue to serve as laboratory of the brain for drug testing, studying nerve cell behavior, injury and disease

In retail:

1. Alibaba: Alibaba reports slowest quarterly revenue growth; partners with Macy’s to launch an online flagship store on Tmall Global; will invest $4.6B in China electronics retailer Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd, equivalent to 19.99% stake
2. Earnings: Gap reports 2% net sales drop for Q2 fiscal year 2015 compared to last year; Macy’s reports 26% drop in Q2 profit and lowers sales forecast for 2015; Nordstrom Q2 report exceeds expectations, sales up by 9%
3. Amazon participates in $8M Series B funding round for fashion shopping site Who What Wear
4. New York-based hedge fund Tiger Global leads $30M investment in e-commerce robotics/logistics firm GreyOrange
5. Jessica Alba’s Honest Co. raises $100M in new funding round, valuing company at $1.7B