Sundar Pichai's ‘exceptionally well-managed’ Google hits this new milestone

Google announced that it would expand its stock repurchase program by $70 billion.

Google's parent company Alphabet hit a new milestone as it reached a market capitalisation of $2 trillion. With this, Google is now the world's fourth most valuable public company after Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft. Microsoft has a market capitalisation of a little over $3 trillion and overtook Apple earlier this year.

Google and Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at Stanford University. (AFP)

Has Google achieved this fete before?

Yes, Alphabet briefly hit the $2 trillion threshold in November 2021 and earlier this month as well. But the company closed above the mark for the first time on April 26 following Alphabet's first-quarter earnings report which beat analysts' expectations.

Alphabet's stock has experienced volatility in the recent past as investors remained sceptical on the company's ability to compete with rivals like OpenAI.

What Sundar Pichai said on Google's quarterly results?

Sundar Pichai highlighted the contributions of Google Cloud and said, “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.”

He asserted that Google was well “positioned for the next wave of AI innovation and the opportunity ahead.”

The company also announced that it would expand its stock repurchase program by $70 billion.

Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at Phoenix Financial Services, told Bloomberg, “Alphabet is exceptionally well-managed. They boast an astonishing amount of free cash flow and a massive R&D budget. While it's impossible to predict which company will ultimately produce the best AI products, Alphabet is a formidable force in the race.”