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Google has become the world’s most valuable listed company after announcing that its global revenues rose 13 percent to US$75 billion (~S$106 billion) last year.
In after-hours trading, the share price for Alphabet, Google’s parent company, immediately jumped 9 percent, pushing its stock value to about US$570 billion(~S$810 billion), good enough to surpass Apple's current market cap of about US$535 billion (S$761 billion), and making Alphabet the most valuable company in the world. Apple had held the number one position since 2011, when it surpassed US oil and gas corporation, Exxon.
The last time Google was more valuable than Apple was in February 2010, when both companies were worth less than US$200 billion (S$281 billion).
It is the first time that Alphabet has separated out the results of its Google business - which includes the search engine and YouTube - from its "Other Bets" business, which includes its Google X moonshot projects like its self-driving cars and internet balloon programs.
On an annual basis, Alphabet made US$16.3 billion (~S$23 billion) but the figures show that the "Other Bets" business lost US$3.6 billion (S$5 billion) during the period, while Google's operating income rose to US$23.4 billion (S$33.2 billion), as online advertising increased.
Source: cnbc
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