Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reached US$2 trillion in market capitalization on Wall Street on Monday, making a foray into the very exclusive club of valuations exceeding that mark, alongside Apple and Microsoft.
Alphabet’s stock rose for the first time to US$3,012 in early morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange before retreating to US$2,985 (+0.28%) by mid-session. At that peak, its valuation on Wall Street surpassed US$2 trillion for the first time.
One of the best performing stocks in the tech sector
Google’s stock has been one of the best performers in the technology sector this year, with a 70% growth.
It was only in January 2020 that the internet giant, which went public in 2004 at a price of US$85 per share, reached US$1 trillion in market capitalization.
In the third quarter, Alphabet’s revenue jumped 41% to US$65 billion. The group posted a net profit of 18.9 billion, well above market expectations.
The world’s number one online advertising company continues to reap more revenue from both YouTube and its search engine and has expanded its cloud business.
Alphabet stock performance is not even affected by recent lawsuits
The numerous investigations and lawsuits for suspected anti-competitive practices are not weighing on its accounts at this stage.
Founded in the dorms of Stanford University in 1998, after co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin met, the search engine launched its Gmail email service in 2004.
The following years saw rapid growth with the acquisition of Android and YouTube, and the development of Maps, Chrome and Google Cloud, a range of business services.
Google became a subsidiary of its parent company Alphabet in 2015 with the arrival of CEO Sundar Pichai in office that year.