Alphabet first reached a $1 trillion market capitalization in January 2020.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, crossed the threshold during trading on January 16, 2020. Its valuation was supported by Google’s dominant digital-advertising business, along with expanding activities such as cloud computing, YouTube, and hardware.
Alphabet was created in 2015 during a corporate restructuring. Google became the principal operating company under Alphabet, while other projects and investments were grouped into a separate category called Other Bets.
Alphabet is sometimes confused with Google in market-cap questions because Google is the company’s best-known brand and operating business. The listed company whose shares investors buy is Alphabet Inc., while Google LLC is its main subsidiary.