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Internet giant Google is set to overtake Apple as the most valuable company in the world after announcing its financial results for the last three months of 2015.
The company beat analyst expectations by reporting revenue of $21.3 billion US (£14.7bn) for the final quarter of last year, up from $18.1 billion (£12.5bn) in the same period last year.
The announcement saw the company’s share price to rise by more than 9% in after-hours trading, easing Google’s value above that of Apple at the time.
Ruth Porat, chief financial officer of Google’s parent company Alphabet said: “Our very strong revenue growth in Q4 reflects the vibrancy of our business, driven by mobile search as well as YouTube and programmatic advertising, all areas in which we’ve been investing for many years.
“We’re excited about the opportunities we have across Google and Other Bets to use technology to improve the lives of billions of people.”
Google reported a rise in profit to $4.9bn (£3.4bn), up from $4.7bn in the same period last year.
According to analysts, the spike in Google’s share price gives the company a potential estimated value of $558bn, with Apple currently revalued at around $534 billion. The company will need to confirm the lead when the markets reopen on Tuesday.
The figures released by Alphabet, the new parent company that was formed above Google last year, show that the technology giant saw operating income rise to $23.4bn (£16.2bn) for the year, up from $19bn (£13.1bn) in 2014.
The firm made no mention of the company’s UK tax bill in the results.
