Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reached a $1 trillion market capitalization in January 2020.
Alphabet crossed the milestone on January 16, 2020, during trading on the Nasdaq. The company’s value was built mainly around Google’s search engine and advertising business, with additional activities including YouTube, Google Cloud, Android, and other projects.
Alphabet was created in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring. Google became a subsidiary, while Alphabet served as the broader holding company for Google and several “Other Bets,” such as research and technology ventures. This is why the market-cap record belongs to Alphabet rather than technically to Google Inc.
The milestone is often misreported as Google reaching $1 trillion. Google remains the best-known consumer brand, but Alphabet is the publicly traded parent whose shares determine the group’s market capitalization.