Google Parent Company Alphabet Hits $1 Trillion In Market Cap

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, achieved a major financial milestone Thursday, hitting $1 trillion in market capitalization. The tech giant joins Apple, Amazon and Microsoft as the only US companies to have reached that threshold.

The news comes during a period of transition for Alphabet. Last month, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin said they would step aside as leaders of Alphabet, leaving Google CEO Sundar Pichai to run the entire company.

Google is also facing the most tumultuous period of its 21-year history. The search giant is dealing with antitrust investigations from both state and federal officials. And members of its workforce are in open revolt, protesting Google’s work in China, contract with the Pentagon and handling of sexual harassment allegations against senior executives.

Still, those controversies largely haven’t hurt the value of Alphabet’s stock. The company’s digital advertising business is still a prime moneymaker — the company generated almost $140 billion in annual revenue in 2018. (Alphabet is scheduled to report full-year 2019 earnings Feb. 3.) Google restructured under the Alphabet umbrella in 2015, separating Google’s marquee internet businesses, like search, maps and YouTube, from more experimental “other bets” like driverless cars and med-tech projects.

Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday on hitting the $1 trillion threshold.―CNET