This week Google, which based its name on the mathematical concept of ‘googol,’ which means the numeral ‘1’ followed by one-hundred zeros, joined the Trillion Dollar Club — meaning, the market cap of its parent company Alphabet has gone above the one-trillion-dollar mark for the very first time. Bada ba dum! Drums rolling, Logo Balloons being released into the air like doves, this is a major feat indeed!
The other well-heeled members of the Trillion Dollar Club are Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon — who all made it onto the list within just the past two years.
In case you’ve forgotten (or didn’t pay attention in high school math class) a trillion can either be defined as ten to the eighteenth power, or a million million. Either way, it’s an eye-catching number that financial experts never thought a company could reach just 20 years ago. At that time a billion dollar company seemed to be about the limit that even the most successful business like AT&T or IBM could reach. But with worldwide inflation and the introduction of bitcoin and other cyber currencies, the whole concept of the number billion being the outer reaches of financial worth has come tumbling down like Humpty Dumpty — broken, never to be repaired again.
Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in a press release that reaching this magical trillion dollar figure would not have been possible without the foresight and genius of the founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page.