Alphabet briefly overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable company in February 2016.
The change followed Alphabet’s strong quarterly results and a rise in its share price. Alphabet is the holding company created during Google’s 2015 corporate restructuring, with Google becoming its largest subsidiary. The valuation contest reflected investor enthusiasm for online advertising, cloud computing, mobile software, and emerging businesses such as autonomous vehicles.
Alphabet’s lead did not last long. Apple soon regained the top position as market prices changed. This episode is sometimes confused with Google’s 2015 reorganization: Google did not disappear, but became a subsidiary of the newly created Alphabet parent company. Market-cap rankings can change daily because they depend on both share prices and the number of shares outstanding.