[kyrra]

There are other reasons to have separate entities beyond just legal issues. You can find some guesses out there as to who was responsible for Alpha or why Alphabet was created. But having other 'bets' provides some niceties around: earnings reporting, and spinning-off/selling entities if needed.

I'm also guessing it helps lure in potential leaders like John Krafcik (CEO of Waymo), because these execs can come onboard with the title of CEO rather than some VP within Google. (though, Krafcik joined Google 1 year before Waymo was founded).

[nora4]

That's right. It definitely helps hiring. In the executive level by fancier titles (rather be one of thousand VPs or CFO of Waymo, it's not even a comparison), but also at more junior levels. The usual marketing spiel there is we are like a "startup" but with the resources of a giant company.