Money

Google owner’s value hits $2,000,000,000,000




The owner of Google saw its value top $2 trillion for the first time yesterday.

Shares in Alphabet soared more than 10 per cent after it outlined plans to pay its first dividend and launched a £56billion share buyback.

The company also said revenues rose 15 per cent to £65billion in the first three months of the year.

That was higher than the £63billion analysts had pencilled in.

As shares surged past 10 per cent, that added nearly £160billion to Alphabet’s value, leaving it worth around $2.1 trillion or £1.7 trillion.

It is the fourth listed company to hit this milestone following tech giants Apple and Microsoft and oil major Saudi Aramco.

Social media platform Snap joined in the rally, surging nearly 30 per cent, after it posted a solid set of first-quarter results.

Sales rose 21 per cent to £960m alongside a 10 per cent rise in daily active users to 422m. The tech firm added that its technology was used in February’s Super Bowl event for the first time.

Snap founder Evan Spiegel, who is married to the Australian model Miranda Kerr, saw the value of his stake rise by £105m.

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Back in London, the FTSE 100 continued its record-breaking run as it hit an intra-day high of 8146.79. The blue chip index ended the session up 0.8 per cent, or 60.97 points, at 8139.83 – a record close.

That took gains for the week to 3.1 per cent – its best weekly performance since September last year. Russ Mould, investment director at broker AJ Bell, hailed a ‘fantastic’ week for the FTSE 100.

He said: ‘We’ve had record highs, yet more takeover action, and everyone is talking about UK stocks in a positive way which hasn’t been seen for ages. The breadth of sectors moving higher suggests investor sentiment continues to improve.’

The FTSE 250 added 1.1 per cent, or 222.18 points, to 19824.16.

Engineering firm Senior said revenues rose 7 per cent in first quarter to the end of March.

This included a 12 per cent increase in sales for its aerospace arm.

The update came a day after the company said it will be paid £104m to work with Spirit AeroSystems for another five years to supply components for Boeing aircraft. Shares added 0.4 per cent, or 0.6p, to 164.4p. Loungers, the restaurant, bar and cafe operator, made record sales last year as it opened its highest number of new sites.

The company’s revenues surged 24.7 per cent to £353.5m in the 12 months to April 21 while profit should beat market expectations as soaring costs eased.

Loungers opened a record 36 sites last year, taking its total to nearly 260. Shares rose 2.2 per cent, or 5p, to 236p.

Green energy firm ITM Power has teamed up with Hygen to become its preferred supplier for specialist electrolysers used in hydrogen projects in the UK and Europe.

Dennis Schulz, chief executive of the London-listed firm, said the partnership should play a ‘leading role in advancing the green hydrogen economy’.

ITM shares rose 2.2 per cent, or 1.1p, to 51.1p.

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