Google’s parent Alphabet hits US$1 trillion market value

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), the parent company of internet giant Google, has become the fourth US company to boast a market value of US$1 trillion. It joins fellow tech behemoths Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Amazon.com Inc, (NASDAQ:AMZN). READ: Google’s co-founders step down from CEO and president role at parent Alphabet Alphabet shares saw a small dip in October, following a quarterly update that missed expectations but quickly recouped the falls as the market sees the group's long-term potential untouched. The stock has risen by 17% since the October news, outpacing the S&P 500 index which only grew 6%, and it hit the market cap landmark at the close on Thursday. But short interest in the stock, which indicates how many investors bet on a share price drop, is at 1%, near a 52-week record for Alphabet and higher than Microsoft and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Reuters reported. The Google owner is much more than just a search engine as it encompasses a series of consumer services such as YouTube and Maps, the whole Android system of devices and the online advertisement platform Google Ads. The firm became its own subsidiary in 2015 as a “collection of companies”, so that Google could focus on keeping its technology and strategy relevant. Alphabet is now parent to a dozen companies such as self-driving car business Waymo and health care software company Verily. Its shares were flat at US$1,458 in pre-market New York trading.