Google, the tech giant the world fear, is having a good time.
After spending a year dealing with some of the biggest threats in its history and technology, which include the rise of generative AI, the growing regulations, and cutting a thousand-plus employees to help boost those profits, the company was shaken right to the core.
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But the company managed to remain unfazed and unscathed.
After realigning its business in Search, Android and hardware related to AI, and launching Gemini AI, Google's parent company Alphabet has finally officially hit and maintained a $2 trillion market cap for a whole day of trading after briefly touching $2 trillion in November 2021.
Just like any other publicly-traded companies, Alphabet's valuation is closely tied to its stock price, which fluctuates based on supply and demand in the stock market.
Factors such as the company performance, industry trends, economic conditions, and investor sentiment can all influence its valuation.
And this time, Alphabet's first-quarter earnings report shows that revenue beat analysts' expectations due to the success of Google's search engine.
In his remarks, Alphabet's and Google's CEO, Sundar Pichar, also highlighted how Google Cloud, which has been equipped with generative AI services through Gemini, is helping the company greatly.
"In Cloud, we have announced more than 1,000 new products and features over the past 8 months. At Google Cloud Next, more than 300 customers and partners spoke about their generative AI successes with Google Cloud, including global brands like Bayer, Cintas, Mercedes Benz, Walmart, and many more," Pichai told investors during the call.
Pichai also said that Google was well "positioned for the next wave of AI innovation and the opportunity ahead," and reminded investors that the company has been "AI-first" since 2016.
As a result of this, its stock price surged 10% to $171.95, marking its biggest single-day jump since July 2015.
This significant rise translated to a valuation of $2.15 trillion, adding a staggering $200 billion to the company's market cap, in a single day.
With a $2 trillion market cap, Google becomes the fourth most valuable public company in the world, behind Nvidia ($2.2 trillion), Apple ($2.6 trillion), and Microsoft ($3.0 trillion).
Trailing close, include Amazon ($1.8 trillion), and Meta ($1.1 trillion).
At this time, Alphabet is betting on AI as the key to its business growth, and is more than ready to spend even bigger money to compete.
For this reason, at least at this time, Google said that it has no plan to disrupt search too much.
"We’re being measured in how we do this, focusing on areas where Gen AI can improve the search experience while also prioritizing traffic to websites and merchants,” said Pichai.
As for other of Google’s businesses, the company made $23.7 billion in profit on $80.5 billion in revenue,
This is 15% more revenue year over year, and a 14% more profit than it made during the holiday.
Q1 search and advertising revenue were each up 14% year over year, YouTube ads were up nearly 21%, and “subscriptions, platforms, and devices” were up 18% year over year — mostly due to premium YouTube subscriptions, said Google chief business officer Philipp Schindler.
In all, Alphabet's revenue increased 15% from $69.79 billion a year earlier, the fastest rate of growth since early 2022.
Alongside its Q1 2024 earnings, Google also announced its first-ever dividend and a $70 billion share buyback.