In 2014 Alphabet decided to split its stock into A & C shares. It was a move done by the founders to retain control as the company expanded.

Alphabet Inc, a company with a market cap of over $1.5tr decided in 2014 to split its stock into GOOGL & GOOG, also more commonly known as alphabet A & Alphabet C.

But what's the difference and why did they do it?

When companies list on the stock exchange their founders can often see themselves being diluted and losing a controlling interest within the company. The founders of Alphabet (Google) didn’t want this so in 2014 the company created a new class of shares with a ‘nonvoting’ right and issued a Class C share for each Class A share previously held. Put simply, Class C stocks don’t have voting rights and Class A shares do and as a result A class shares usually trade at a small premium to C class because the shareholders of A class stock can vote on company decisions. In doing this Sergey Brin & Larry page maintain controlling power on decisions within Alphabet by holding Alphabet B shares.

To overview the structure

• Alphabet A – Usually held by a regular investor with voting rights.
• Alphabet B – Held by the founders with x10 the voting power of Alphabet A
• Alphabet C – Usually held by Employees and stakeholders without voting rights.

So which is the best to pick?

Because Alphabet A (GOOGL) shares come with voting rights, they are usually considered more valuable as shareholders can have a say in policy, products or anything which requires a voting right. This is the reason why Alphabet A stock often trades higher than Alphabet C.

That being said, most investors cannot buy enough shares to have an actual impact on policymaking and other operational decisions so Alphabet C stock could be the better option as they’re slightly cheaper.