Google Parent Alphabet Surpasses Apple as World’s Most Valuable Company

Apple has held the top spot as the world’s most valuable company for the past four years. The iPhone maker took the title from Exxon Mobil in 2012. Apple was valued at $760 billion in early 2015.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, recently passed it’s Silicon Valley rival and they have secured the title. Google posted its fourth-quarter earnings from 2015. Alphabet’s market cap is now about $547.1 billion as opposed to Apple’s $529.3 billion.

Alphabet’s explosive growth has been driven primarily in advertising and mobile search options, as well as its ownership of YouTube. YouTube says that the number of people per day who watch videos on the site has increased by 40 percent since March 2014.

“Our very strong revenue growth in Q4 reflects the vibrancy of our business, driven by mobile search as well as YouTube and programmatic advertising, all areas in which we’ve been investing for many years,” Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat said in a press release.

The last time Google overtook Apple as the most valuable company world-wide was in 2010. Until mid-2015, Apple’s dominance was secured, thanks to its ability to consistently create innovative products, like each new version of the iPhone.

Apple has relied on the core product that drives the bulk of its revenue for so long that iPhone sales are beginning to drop. Morgan Stanley now projects a six-percent decline in iPhone sales in 2016, and other banks have made similar assessments. Apple stocks have also been on the decline since summer 2015.

Apple no longer holds the number one spot, but it is still ahead of Microsoft (valued at $425.7 billion), Facebook ($326.2 billion), and Exxon Mobil ($310.1 billion). And while iPhone sales are showing signs of slowing down domestically, abroad they’re still on the incline, particularly in India. Although the iPhone market is more mature in China, demand there is expected to remain relatively raised, according to the Morgan Stanley report.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, an Apple investor, said in May that the iPhone maker was “dramatically undervalued” and should trade at US$240 per share. At that price, the company would be valued at about US$1.30 trillion.

Alphabet’s shares rose as much as 4.4 per cent to US $804.50 on Tuesday, valuing the company at US$546.50 billion, making it the world’s most valuable company — for now.