Alphabet/Google overtakes Apple as world’s biggest company
Alphabet, the parent company for Google, has become the world's most valuable company after a sharp rise in its share price helped Alphabet overtake its tech rival, Apple.
In opening trade on Tuesday, Alphabet gave a robust earnings report, which helped its shares rise 2.9 percent to lift the company’s market capitalization to USD 543 billion, AFP reported.
The development came at a time that Apple's value declined to USD 530 billion with a modest dip in trading.
Alphabet's quarterly profit rose five percent to USD 4.92 billion as a result of remarkable rise in the company’s online advertising revenue, particularly due to searches done by holiday season shoppers using smartphones or tablets.
Google’s ad revenue climbed globally, gaining on both mobile devices and desktop computers, according to Alphabet chief financial officer, Ruth Porat.
The California-based Internet colossus said in the report that its revenue topped USD 21.3 billion in the final quarter of 2015.
The earnings report was the first in which recently formed parent corporation, Alphabet, separated money made by Google from what it calls "Other Bets" such as its work on self-driving cars or providing Internet service using high-altitude balloons.
The new structure was introduced under Alphabet in a bid to offer more transparency for investors, who were previously worried about Google’s investment in what they considered as money-losing projects.
While Google is best known as the dominant player in Internet search, it has launched a variety of trailblazing projects in recent years that are marginally related at best to its core operation.
Alphabet’s main subsidiaries include Google, Nest Labs, and Google X labs, which are devoted to big-vision new technologies such as self-driving cars, along with such projects as smart "Google Glass" spectacles, drones, health care and Google TV -- none of which has become a major source of income for the company yet.
Industry tracker, eMarketer, has projected that Google will remain the dominant player in worldwide search advertising, raking in USD 45.58 billion in revenue this year to claim a share just shy of 57 percent of total spending on such ads.
Pakistan says Iran's gas project ‘need of the hour’, pushes for US sanctions waiver
Israeli economy plunges almost 20% as Gaza war takes heavy toll
IMF to urge China to shift growth model towards consumption
Hezbollah pounds Israeli military outposts, spying devices near border
VIDEO | Iran tackles Zionists
Israeli occupation of Palestine ‘main cause of instability’ in region: Turkish FM
VIDEO | Columbia students camp on university grounds in support of Palestinians
VIDEO | Muslim unity and Palestine
UN Security Council's inaction prompted Iran to attack Israel: FM
Know their names: Palestinian athletes, scouts, coaches killed by Israel in Gaza
'It was not a strike': Iran FM dismisses Israeli weapons as 'children toys'
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
