Google Stock Class B: What It Is, How It Works, and What Investors Should Know

If you’ve ever looked up Google’s stock price, you might have noticed something strange: there’s GOOGL and GOOG. It’s a common confusion, but the answer reveals a third, “secret” class of stock that holds the real power at one of the world’s most influential companies. This isn’t a mistake in the stock ticker; it’s a deliberate design that tells a fascinating story about control and vision.

This “secret” stock is known as Google stock Class B. Think of it as a VIP pass with special privileges, reserved only for a select few and not available for public sale. In practice, learning about this exclusive stock is the key to understanding who truly guides the massive company—now called Alphabet—that shapes so much of our digital world.

Forget any complicated financial jargon. This guide demystifies the difference between GOOGL vs. GOOG, explaining why this setup exists and what it means for the company’s future, giving you a clear path to understanding Google’s stock structure once and for all.

So, What Exactly Is a Share of Stock Anyway?

Imagine a giant, successful bakery. Every part of it—the ovens, the secret recipes, and the delivery trucks—belongs to the company as a whole. A share of stock is simply a tiny slice of ownership in that entire operation. When you buy even one share, you become a part-owner, getting to share in the company’s future successes or failures, even if you only own a single crumb of the whole business.

Owning a crumb, however, doesn’t automatically mean you get to help decide what gets baked next. Think of it like a club: some memberships might let you vote on activities, while others just get you in the door. In the world of stocks, this “right to vote” on big company decisions is a crucial detail that isn’t always included with every single share.

These different slices of ownership are what people buy and sell on the stock market. But as you’re about to see with Google, not all slices are created equal. This simple distinction between basic ownership and ownership with a say is the key to understanding why the company has different “flavors” of stock.

Why Does Google Have Three “Flavors” of Stock?

If owning a stock makes you a part-owner, you might assume it also gives you a say in how the company is run. That’s often true, but companies can create different types of stock, known as stock classes, to control who gets how much influence. This is exactly what Google’s parent company, Alphabet, does. The primary reason is simple: to keep the original founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in the driver’s seat.

This system works by assigning different voting rights to each share class. Think of it like this: if the company were voting on a new CEO, some shares would get a vote, and others wouldn’t. Alphabet’s share classes break down as follows:

• Class A (GOOGL): The stock you can buy. Comes with one vote per share.
• Class C (GOOG): The other stock you can buy. Comes with zero votes.
• Class B (Private): The “secret” stock for founders. Not for sale. Comes with ten votes per share.

Those Class B shares are the key. Because each one carries ten times the voting power of a Class A share, the founders can maintain control over Alphabet’s long-term vision without owning more than half the company. It ensures they can’t be outvoted on major decisions by thousands of other shareholders.

For anyone outside the company, this structure really just boils down to a choice between the two stocks available to the public. Essentially, one gives you a tiny voice, and the other gives you none. But does that difference actually matter for your wallet?

GOOGL vs. GOOG: What’s the Real Difference for an Investor?

If you decide to buy Google stock, you’re immediately faced with a choice: GOOGL or GOOG. These are the company’s ticker symbols—the unique codes used on the stock market. As we’ve covered, GOOGL stands for the Class A shares that come with one vote, while GOOG represents the Class C shares that have no voting rights at all.

You might wonder why the voteless Class C (GOOG) stock even exists. It was created in 2014 through a special kind of stock split. In simple terms, Alphabet essentially gave existing shareholders one new, voteless Class C share for every share they already owned. This allowed the company to issue more stock in the future for things like employee compensation without diluting the voting power of its founders and early investors.

From a purely financial standpoint, the difference is almost meaningless. A share of GOOGL and a share of GOOG entitle you to the exact same sliver of Alphabet’s future profits. Their prices almost always track each other perfectly because their economic value is identical. One isn’t a “better” investment than the other; they are two tickets to the same movie, but only one comes with a ballot for choosing next year’s sequel.

For most people, the choice is purely symbolic. If you value having even a tiny say in shareholder proposals, you’d buy GOOGL. If you don’t care about voting, either one will give you the same stake in the company’s success. Ultimately, this entire public structure is built to protect the immense power held by the third, unlisted class of stock.

The Founders’ “Golden Ticket”: Unveiling Google’s Class B Stock

That powerful third class of stock is known as Class B. Think of it as the ultimate golden ticket. While a public Class A share gives its owner one vote on company matters, a single Class B share grants its owner ten votes. This creates a category of ownership with immensely more influence, which is why these are often called super-voting shares.

So, can you buy this powerful stock? The short answer is no. Class B shares are not available on any public stock exchange for you to purchase. They are privately held almost exclusively by Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, along with a few other early insiders. It’s an exclusive arrangement designed to keep decision-making power concentrated within that very small group.

This structure is the key to how the founders maintain control. Because of their super-voting Class B ownership, Page and Brin can guide Alphabet’s long-term direction without fear of being outvoted by thousands of public shareholders on important company matters. It guarantees that their original vision remains central to the company’s future. But why did they feel such a need for this level of control in the first place?

Why Did Google Create This Super-Voting Stock in the First Place?

The answer lies in a fundamental tension every public company faces: the pressure for short-term profits versus the pursuit of a long-term vision. Most public investors want to see a company’s stock price go up now, which can discourage leaders from taking big, expensive risks that might not pay off for a decade. It’s like owning a restaurant where the customers want cheaper pizza today, but the chef wants to spend years perfecting a revolutionary new recipe.

For founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, this was a non-starter. They never intended to run a “conventional company.” By creating the super-voting Class B stock, they built a protective shield around their leadership. This structure, a key element of Alphabet Inc corporate governance, gives them the final say, allowing them to invest in bold ideas without needing to win a popular vote with shareholders every quarter. The impact of dual-class stock structure is that it prioritizes the founders’ long-term strategy.

This freedom is what enables Alphabet to fund its famous “moonshot” projects—ambitious ventures that seem straight out of science fiction. Think of Waymo’s self-driving cars or Calico’s research into extending human life. These are huge, costly bets on the future that a typical company, worried about its next earnings report, would likely avoid.

Of course, there’s a trade-off. This strong Google founders stock control means that if you own the publicly traded Class A shares, your voting power is largely symbolic. You are essentially trusting the founders to steer the ship correctly. For Google, the goal was clear: to protect its innovative culture from market pressures, even at the cost of giving public shareholders less of a voice.

So, What Does This All Mean for You?

That initial confusion you might have felt seeing two different “Google” stocks is gone. What once looked like a typo is now a clear story about ownership and control. You’ve peeled back the curtain and can now see the simple logic behind what seems like a complex system.

The breakdown of Alphabet’s share classes is simple: Class A (GOOGL) gets a vote, and Class C (GOOG) doesn’t. The powerful Alphabet Inc Class B shares are reserved for founders to steer the company’s vision and aren’t available to buy.

For investors, the choice is straightforward. The next time you see those tickers, you won’t see a puzzle. You’ll see a story you understand, confident that the only decision you’d ever need to make is between a vote and no vote.