Google – Invest In A Leader And Succeed Together With It

Google is part of the Big Four, which represents a group formed of the biggest technology companies in the world. The other three companies are Apple, Amazon, and Facebook. In 2015, Google became Alphabet Inc. – a collection of companies that kept Google as its leading subsidiary.

Google signage

From a tech leader to one of the biggest conglomerates in the world

The search engine Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were still PhD students at Stanford University. After receiving a series of funds from big investors like Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos; and the venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital – Google launched its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in August 19, 2004.

The company started to grow significantly year by year, expanding itself in terms of products, acquisitions and partnerships; far beyond than the already-successful search engine core service. Some of those services are: Gmail, Google Drive, Google Translate, Google Maps, and the social network Google+.

On August 10, 2015, Google announced its plans to create a new public holding company. Almost two months later, on October 2nd, a new company was born after the corporate restructure of Google LLC, which turned Alphabet Inc. into the parent company of the multinational technology company and its subsidiaries.

Google and its components (YouTube, Android, LLC, and others), remained the main subsidiary in the internet business segment. The rest of Alphabet’s companies operate in a variety of industries, including technology, research & development, investment capital, and life sciences.

The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California; and the key people are founders Larry Page (CEO) and Sergey Brin (President), as well as John Hennessy (Chairman), David Drummond (CLO and SVP), and Ruth Porat (CFO).

Alphabet Inc. on the Stock Market

Shares of Google’s stock have been converted into Alphabet stock, but they kept trading under Google’s former symbols of GOOG and GOOGL. The company is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (GOOGL – class A, GOOG – class C), and it is a member of the prestigious NASDAQ – 100, S&P 100, and S&P 500 stock market indexes.

The 2017 fiscal year ended on a positive note for Alphabet, with $110.86 billion revenue, $26.15 billion in operating income, a $12.66 billion net income, and $152.50 billion in total equity.

On February 1, 2016, Alphabet Inc. surpassed Apple and became the most valuable publicly traded company in the entire world for two days; when Apple took back its position. However, Alphabet is one of the largest cap stocks found in the market’s leading indexes and it has constantly been on top on the stock market.

GOOGL Alphabet Inc. stock

How to invest in the Alphabet Stock

Like any other major stock, Alphabet is a treasure to any portfolio and a stepping stone to becoming a professional investor.

The most popular way you can buy its shares or trade the stock is through an online stock broker. Since the industry is supersaturated with brokerages firms, it is for the best to pick only recommended websites or licensed brokers. One of such firms is TradeFw.com –  an EU regulated investment firm and it is exactly how a professional and trustworthy broker should look like, so we’ll use it as an example in our brief guide.

The first thing you need to do is to ‘devour’ as much material as you can about Alphabet, the stock exchange it trades on and also, to follow the news related to it. TradeFW is aware of how important this aspect is for your investment, that’s why it puts at your disposal an outstanding amount of educational materials. The broker also eases your trading experience with numerous sophisticated tools and a team of experts that are available via a live chat. Moreover, use the information to develop an investment plan. Ask yourself which are the financial goals and what strategies you want to use to reach them.

After you elaborated an investment plan and feel prepared enough – it’s time to open an account with the online broker! Choose an account type that is geared according to your level of experience and needs. For example, TradeFW offers two account types, a standard one for beginners and a VIP one, for pros. It’s also important to pay attention to the commissions the broker requires for stock trading!

Conclusion

The project of two ambitious students became one of the largest multinational conglomerates in the world! Alphabet is a large cap stock, a category which represents the majority of the U.S equity market and its continuous growth makes it one of the most valuable stocks on the market.

This stock can make the difference in your investment portfolio and also in your financial life!