Alphabet became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company when it briefly surpassed Apple in February 2016.
Alphabet was created in 2015 as the parent company of Google and several related businesses. After Google’s strong fourth-quarter results were reported in February 2016, Alphabet’s shares rose sharply in after-hours trading, temporarily giving it a larger market capitalization than Apple.
Apple soon regained the top position as market prices changed. The episode reflected how quickly market-cap rankings can shift after earnings announcements, even when the underlying companies remain fundamentally strong.
Alphabet is sometimes incorrectly called Google in discussions of its corporate structure. Google remains Alphabet’s largest subsidiary, while Alphabet also owns businesses and projects outside the core Google products.