Alphabet became the fourth U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization.
Alphabet crossed the milestone in January 2020. The company is the parent of Google and was created in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring that separated Google’s core internet products from a collection of other businesses and projects.
Google’s advertising business was the central driver of Alphabet’s value, with search advertising, YouTube, and related digital services reaching users around the world. Alphabet also owns Google Cloud and other ventures, although these businesses have different financial profiles.
The previous U.S. companies to reach the trillion-dollar level included Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft. Alphabet is sometimes mistakenly called Google in market-cap questions, but Google is the principal operating subsidiary while Alphabet is the publicly traded parent company.