Google closes in on $1 trillion market value

GOOGLE’S parent company was poised last night to become the fourth tech group to reach a market value of $1trillion.

Alphabet’s market capitalisation stood at around $992bn, putting it within striking distance of the milestone.

Hitting the figure would make it the fourth Silicon Valley business to do so, after Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.

Both Apple and Microsoft are still worth more than $1trillion (£770bn) but Amazon has since dropped in value to about $940bn.

The biggest company in the FTSE 100 index is HSBC which is valued at £120bn.

Alphabet’s shares have risen more than 115pc since Sundar Pichai took control of its Google arm in 2015. He is now chief executive of the whole Alphabet group.

Google was founded in a garage near Stanford University

in California in 1998 by PhD students Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

It started out as a search engine but has since ballooned into a huge empire spanning a variety of areas.

Through its different Alphabet divisions, the company has penetrated almost every aspect of consumer life, selling smartphones, voice-controlled devices for the home, autonomous cars and healthcare. Its mobile phone operating system Android is the most used in the world and its internet browser Chrome is also the most popular.

The company also allows customers to make purchases in shops and online with its Google Pay digital wallet.

At the same time, Google’s success has turned Page and Brin, both 46, into two of the richest individuals on the planet. Page owns about 6pc of Alphabet and is worth an estimated £53bn, according to Bloomberg. Brin owns 5.5pc and is worth around £52bn.

The pair brought in Eric Schmidt as chief executive of Google in 2001.

However, in 2015 the entire business was reorganised under holding company Alphabet, with Page becoming chief executive, Brin becoming president and Schmidt becoming executive chairman. Schmidt then left in 2017.

Pichai has been chief executive of Google since the overhaul but last month the 47year- old succeeded Page as boss of Alphabet.