Alphabet is the parent company of Google and became one of the first technology firms valued above $2 trillion.
Alphabet briefly exceeded a $2 trillion market capitalization in November 2021 after reporting strong quarterly results. The company’s valuation was supported by Google Search advertising, YouTube, and the rapidly expanding Google Cloud business.
Alphabet was created in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring. Google became Alphabet’s largest subsidiary, while activities such as research projects and other businesses were placed under the parent company. This structure is why the public stock is generally identified with Alphabet even though many people still refer to the company as Google.
Alphabet’s market-cap position has varied with advertising cycles, interest rates, regulation, and competition in artificial intelligence. It remains one of the companies most often compared with Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Nvidia.