Google parent Alphabet takes the top position from Apple

Search giant Google is reportedly working on a 10.2-inch Android tablet dubbed "Pixel C" with NVIDIA Tegra X1 SoC on board. Pictured above: A logo is pictured at Google's European Engineering Center in Zurich April16, 2015. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann

Alphabet has become the most valuable public company in the world. Aided by strong mobile advertising sales, Google’s new parent company superseded Apple Inc., according to the companies' fourth quarter earnings report.

Alphabet made a profit of US$4.9 billion (AU$6.99 billion) in the fourth quarter, up from US$4.7 billion in the previous year. Alphabet is now worth around US$568 billion (AU$810 billion) as compared to US$535 billion (AU$763 billion) of Apple Inc.

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“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,” Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet, said in a statement.

According to Reuters, the consolidated revenue rose to $21.33 billion (AU$30.40 billion) in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from $18.10 billion (AU$25.81 billion) in the same quarter last year, translating a 17.8 percent increment.

This is the first time for Alphabet to disclose separate results of its Google business and “Other Bets” which includes more ambitious projects like Nest, Project Loon, Google Fiber, life sciences business Verily and its self-driving cars. However, the “Other Bets” business lost US$3.6 billion (AU$5.13 billion) during the same quarter reports the BBC.

The fourth quarter results show the profitability of Google search engine and the YouTube business. The Google unit includes internet related business like search, ads, maps, and YouTube; Android and hardware products.

With increased advertising revenue of US$19.08 billion (AU$27.2 billion), Google recorded a 31.9 percent increase in its operative profit margin in the fourth quarter, as compared to 25 percent for Alphabet. Google CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned that Gmail crossed one billion monthly active users last quarter.

Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that the company foresees a drop in iPhone sales for the first time in more than a decade. Marking the lowest-ever increase in shipments since its launch, Apple sold 74.8 million iPhones in the fourth quarter which ended Dec. 26, 2015.

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