What you need to know
- Alphabet's market cap briefly surpassed $2 trillion on Monday.
- Apple and Microsoft are currently the only two other U.S.-based tech giants that are part of the $2 trillion club.
- Amazon's current valuation stands at $1.7 trillion.
Alphabet, Google's parent company, surpassed $2 trillion in market cap for the first time on November 8 (via Bloomberg). The tech giant is only the third U.S.-based company to join the exclusive $2 trillion club.
Apple achieved the milestone in April last year, while Microsoft's market cap rose above $2 trillion in June this year. Apple and Microsoft are both currently valued at around $2.5 trillion.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Alphabet has seen its revenue rise at a really fast pace. In the third quarter of 2021, the company reported $65.1 billion in revenue, up from $46.2 billion during the same period last year.
Google's search business brought in $37.9 billion during the July to September period, $11 billion more than Q3 2020. YouTube's advertising revenue also reached a record $7.2 billion in the third quarter. Google's Cloud business, which is still in the red, saw its revenues grow by $1.5 billion over last year to reach $4.99 billion.
While Google's revenues are reaching new heights, the company is currently facing more scrutiny from antitrust authorities than ever before. In the U.S., the search giant is facing a lawsuit from a coalition of 37 state attorney generals over its anti-competitive Play Store practices.
The European Union is running multiple probes against Google, including one over "possible anticompetitive conduct" in the online advertising market. Just last month, Canada's Competition Bureau also opened an investigation into Google's advertising business.
Online retail giant Amazon is expected to be the next company to reach the $2 trillion milestone. Amazon's market cap currently stands at $1.7 trillion.
