How Much Is Google Worth?

Google’s ubiquity seems to qualify it as less of “a search engine” and more so “the search engine.” Its cultural imprint runs so deep that “Google” has become a verb, and many people use it as their default browser page. With a share of the global search engine market that comes out to about 92%, according to Statcounter, the fact that Google is an important part of the daily lives of most people can’t be understated.

GOBankingRates Googled some figures on Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to see what this importance means for investors. Read on to learn about the company’s net worth and other factors you should consider before investing.

What Is Google’s Net Worth?

Google’s net worth can be calculated by subtracting the company’s liabilities from its assets. Shareholders’ equity, which likewise equals total assets minus total liabilities, is essentially a company’s net worth. Alphabet’s total shareholders’ equity as of the quarter ending Sept. 30 was $253.63 billion.

How Much Is Google Worth Now?

In early 2020, Alphabet became the third American tech company to reach a $1 trillion valuation, joining Apple and Microsoft — Tesla and Amazon since have joined the club.

The price of GOOG, Alphabet’s Class C shares, is near its 52-week low of $87.01 as of Nov. 2, giving Google’s parent company a market capitalization of $1.126 trillion as of the same date. In addition to its Class C shares, there are also shares of GOOGL, Alphabet’s Class A common stock. Both types of shares are currently trading at relatively similar prices.

What Is Market Capitalization?

Market capitalization is one of several metrics investors use to gauge how much a company is worth. The market cap is the value of all of the company’s stock combined, giving you a sense of what value investors are placing on the company based on the price it is trading at. The figure can change as much as the share price does since it’s calculated by multiplying the number of outstanding shares by the current trading price.

Although Alphabet shares have gone as high as $152.10 (adjusted for its 20-to-1 stock split) in the past year, the company is susceptible to market volatility, perhaps as a result of competing with tech giants like Apple and Amazon. Alphabet’s share price was $87.01 at its 52-week low. Swings in share price have, in turn, caused its market cap to vary widely over the same period. As of Nov. 2, Google has a share price of $87.07 and a market capitalization of $1.126 trillion.

Alphabet’s Top 10 Shareholders

GOOGL has a high level of institutional ownership at 78.66%. The top 10 shareholders of Alphabet’s Class A stock are:

Google’s Founders

Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The two met at Stanford in 1995 and collaborated on a search engine called Backrub. Google is a play on the word “googol,” which is a one followed by 100 zeros. The name was a great summary of Google’s mission “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Forbes named Page and Brin among the top 13 on its real-time list of the world’s richest billionaires, with net worths of $76.2 billion and $73.2 billion, respectively, as of Nov. 2.

Key Product Lines Contributing to Revenue

Alphabet announced its third-quarter 2022 earnings on Oct. 25. The company generated revenues of about $69.09 billion, up 6% year over year despite declining ad revenues. Alphabet reported diluted earnings per share of $1.06, down from $1.40 a year ago and about 15% below analysts’ expectations reported by Nasdaq.

Alphabet’s third-quarter 2022 earnings report highlighted several categories that contributed to its success. The following operating segments, as described in the earnings report, are responsible for its revenue:

• Google Services: Google Services includes ads, Google Search, Google Maps, Google Play and YouTube as well as hardware, and it’s the segment responsible for the lion’s share of Google’s revenue. It generates revenue from advertising, app sales and in-app purchases, digital content, hardware and subscription fees. YouTube ad revenue is an important component and was down about 2% in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same quarter of 2021. Revenue from Google Services overall was up about 2.5%.

• Google Cloud: Google Cloud is comprised of Google’s infrastructure and platform services. It generates income from Google Cloud Platform and Google Workplace tools and enterprise services. Revenue for this segment grew over 37% in Q3 2022 compared to Q3 2021.

• Other Bets: Other Bets combines various operating segments that don’t stand on their own in terms of revenue. Most Other Bets revenue comes from the sale of health technology and internet services. This segment saw a nearly 15% increase in revenue compared to Q3 2021.

“As we head into 2023, we’re going to focus on our most important priorities as a company. To support our growth, we will continue to invest responsibly, for the long term, in a way that is responsive to the current economic environment,” Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in the company’s Oct. 25 earnings call.

Is Google Worth the Money?

Alphabet has outperformed other FAANG stocks like Facebook and Netflix over the past year. Based on five analysts, Alphabet (GOOG) is a “buy” to “strong buy,” with an average price target of $132.15, according to Yahoo Finance. Alphabet’s share price of $87.07 as of Nov. 2 leaves plenty of room for growth. Based on historical share appreciation, impressive revenue news and future potential from investments such as YouTube and AI, Alphabet may be worth the money as a long-term investment.

Daria Uhlig and Sean Dennison contributed to the reporting for this article.

Data is accurate as of Nov. 2, 2022, and is subject to change.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Much Is Google Worth?