Alphabet's recent climb comes after the company announced in early December that its co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, would step down. Sundar Pichai, who used to run Google took over as CEO of both Google and Alphabet. Pichai took over as Alphabet faces increased regulatory scrutiny and political backlash for its outsized control over the spread of information and other practices. But it is this strength that makes the company so attractive to investors.