Also allows the other Alphabet companies to have independent investors who may not want to invest in "Google" itself. Niantic is the prototype for this: it's s

Also allows the other Alphabet companies to have independent investors who may not want to invest in "Google" itself. Niantic is the prototype for this: it's success with Pokemon Go couldn't have happened without the partnership with, and investment by, Nintendo. It's doubtful that Nintendo would've wanted to invest directly in Google, though, and Niantic's $3B in lifetime revenue would be rounding error for Google as a whole but is still a very substantial return on Nintendo's $30M investment.