Alphabet (Google) is now the World’s most Valuable Company
Some people joke around and say that “Google owns the internet” or that we should “be thankful that our Google overlords are merciful.” After all, even Google’s informal motto is “Don’t Be Evil.”
However, what people have been joking about for years now has been slowly forming into a reality.
In the latest earnings report, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has become the most valuable company in the world. Alphabet has surpassed Apple’s net worth by 33 billion, pushing the iPhone manufacturer down to second place.
But why is Google worth so much? Isn’t it free to use?
Well, first off, Google is now technically Alphabet, a change that Google made in order to differentiate Google, the search engine, from all the other side endeavors such as YouTube and Google+.
Google, the search engine, began making profit from advertisements. However, unlike other search engines, sponsored links were not thrown to the top of a search query. Instead, they were clearly labeled as advertisements and put on the side of search results. This made users feel like they could trust Google, as they were not being fed results based on how much a business could pay. This was Google’s first success. Other search engines did not clarify which links were sponsored by advertisers and which were the actual results of a query.
Second, Google had an attractive model for companies. A company would only need to pay for how many times their link was clicked on.
Using the money they made from advertisements, Google made numerous acquisitions. If you go onto Wikipedia, you can see that Google, over its lifetime, has bought out nearly 200 individual companies. These acquisitions allowed Google to launch applications such as Gmail, Google+, Google Music, Android, Google Hangouts, and Google Earth, and to monetize websites such as YouTube. These acquisitions only opened more room for advertising and data collection, allowing Google to grow into the technological behemoth it is today.
Google actually grew so big they decided to rename the company Alphabet. And it seems to be continuing to grow.
Alphabet is working on autonomous cars with the Google Car. Although the first run of Google Glass did not work out too well, it is still pursuing to develop virtual reality technology. Google Fiber, Google’s attempt to become an Internet service provider and to break up the cable/ISP monopoly, has been adopted in many cities in the western half of the country. There are rumors that Alphabet may also be trying to enter the medical industry.
Google has been able to succeed because of its far-reaching tentacles that seem to be embedded everywhere.
Although the European Union has voted to break up Google in Europe, Alphabet remains relatively free from government influence in the United States.
Let’s just hope Google follows up on the whole “Don’t be evil” thing.
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I never knew that Google had switched into a larger company, Alphabet. It is neat that they have grown this much in such a short amount of time. Although I do have to say that the name “Alphabet” as a company name gives off a weird vibe that isn’t so welcoming as it seems so omnipresent in our lives.