Amazon Tops Alphabet as 2nd Most Valuable Company
E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. has passed Google parent Alphabet Inc. to become the world’s 2nd most valuable company.
Amazon shares soared 2.7% to $1,586.51 at the close in New York on Tuesday. It’s market capitalization went up to $768 billion. It showed Wall Street’s confidence in its continuous expansion into cloud computing, groceries, and other new businesses.
Alphabet slide 0.39% to $1,095.80, shedding its stock market value to $762 billion. This made Wall Street worried about regulatory fallout following revelations that a political consulting firm had improperly obtained personal data on 50 million Facebook users.
3 years ago, Amazon was ranked 34th by market capitalization, according to S&P Capital IQ
“It’s been remarkable the number of new, large markets that they’ve been able to open,” said Brent Thill, an analyst at Jeffries.
Last month, Amazon’s stock market value passed Microsoft for the 1st time. The Redmond-based company had a stock market value of $717 billion on Tuesday.
Its shares have jumped 81% over the past year, through Monday. It was driven by fast revenue growth as more shopping moves online, and businesses shift their computing operations to the cloud, where Amazon Web Services leads the market.
“They’re using their cash flow to develop new businesses,” said Tim Ghrisky, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York. “They could have Apple in their sights at some point.”
For this year, Amazon’s shares were up 36%. It was a rise that made founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos the world’s wealthiest man. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that his net worth was at $129 billion.
The rise of Amazon also fuels the race to $1 trillion market value, with Apple leading the way at $889.2 billion. However, Amazon has been the company to watch for the previous 3 years. Its market gains far outpaced Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft. The slightest hint of interest from Bezos in a new business line, such as healthcare or banking, can send stocks of potential competitors crashing.
On March 12th, Apple became the 1st public company to be worth $900 billion. However, the stock has since dropped back then.
The Fall of Facebook and Google
Google has been weighed in recent days by concerns about Facebook data scandal. While they dominate online advertising, they have previously faced government criticism for how they employ their user data.
Last year, Google already admitted that Russia-backed troll farms bought ads on YouTube, Gmail, and other Google properties leading up to the 2016 US presidential election.
Meanwhile, Cambridge Analytica, a data analysis company hired by President Donald Trump’s campaign, had acquired Facebook user profile data on 50 million Americans without their permission. This sent its shares of the social media giant down almost 10% from Friday’s close. It was a loss of about $60 billion in market value. It was also a $6.7 billion decline in Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth.
Further, lawmakers in the US and the UK have called for Zuckerberg to testify before them.
