Alphabet passes Apple as world's most valuable public company

Google's parent company Alphabet is now the world's most valuable publicly traded company, according to earnings reports released today.

Revenue stands tall at $21.3 billion and earnings are at $8.67 per share -- both exceeding analyst predictions of $20.8 billion and earnings of $8.09 per share. Market cap comes in at $558 billion, surpassing Apple at $535 billion, a company which has struggled to grow in recent times following a long period of flourishing.

Alphabet attributes the wild success to its investments in mobile search as well as YouTube and "programmatic" advertising. Its 1 billion active Gmail users probably don't hurt, either.