Alphabet added nearly half a trillion dollars to its market cap on Thursday, following a quarterly earnings report that crushed expectations.
Earnings per share came in at $5.11, nearly double the $2.63 estimate. Revenue rose 22% year over year, hitting $20 billion in Google Cloud revenue alone-a 63% jump.
The rally pushed Alphabet’s total market value to roughly $4.6 trillion, a gain of $450 to $480 billion in a single day.
That surge is now shifting sentiment in prediction markets. The probability of Microsoft being the world’s largest company by December 2026 held steady at 0.9%-suggesting traders see Alphabet closing the gap.
Investors are now watching Alphabet’s cloud momentum, Microsoft’s strategic response, and upcoming earnings from both Apple and Microsoft as the race for the top market cap intensifies.