There are a lot of pieces to that puzzle. One of them is a stock program that basically guarantees the investors have a voice, but zero actual steering capacity for the company, coupled with a CEO who wants to take risks, coupled with a company track record of risks paying off in bizarrely outsized ways just often enough to keep investors hungry for the stock in spite of the fact that ownership of the stock grants them no control.
In short, the company's founders have the ability to steer where the company's money goes, nobody has the authority to tell them otherwise, and so far benevolent dictatorship is working. To give a concrete contrasting example, Apple ousted Steve Jobs when his leadership became fiscally risky; because of Alphabet's stock structure, there's no legal way for holders to directly oust Larry Page.
In short, the company's founders have the ability to steer where the company's money goes, nobody has the authority to tell them otherwise, and so far benevolent dictatorship is working. To give a concrete contrasting example, Apple ousted Steve Jobs when his leadership became fiscally risky; because of Alphabet's stock structure, there's no legal way for holders to directly oust Larry Page.