Alphabet passes Apple as world’s most valuable company
Stock prices for Google’s parent company pushed it ahead of its tech rival in after-hours trading on Monday.
Google’s parent company on Monday became the most valuable business in the world after its market cap was declared at $570 billion as against Apple’s $535 billion in after-hours trading. According to CNBC, the after-hours figure is technically an indication and not a real-world value, but it effectively put the Larry Page-run company ahead of Apple for the first time in six years.
The stocks rose after Alphabet posted earnings of $8.67 per share, as against the $8.10 that analysts were expecting. The strong showings pushed the company’s shares up by 6%. Apple, on its part, posted some worrying figures in the last quarter, showing that despite making huge profits overall, the sales of its showcase product, the iPhone, were flatlining.
The last time Google was more valuable than Apple was in February 2010, though both companies were worth less than $200 million then. This was before Apple launched the iPad and had only come out with the iPhone 3GS at the time.