Google parent becomes most valuable company, again

NEW YORK

Google's parent company, Alphabet, on Thursday surpassed Apple in market capitalization to become the world's most valuable company for the second time.

Alphabet shares were up 0.29 percent on Wall Street at GMT1900, placing the company’s market capitalization at $503 billion.

Apple’s stock value was down 2.1 percent, with its market value at $496 billion, according to Yahoo Finance.

Alphabet's success is helped by better first quarter financial results than Apple.

Income at Alphabet was up 20 percent, while revenues rose 17 percent, year-on-year.

Google's quarterly income jumped 21 percent with a 17 percent rise in revenues.

Meanwhile, Apple's income fell 23 percent, and revenues were down 13 percent in the first three months of this year, compared to the same period a year ago.

iPhone sales contracted 16 percent during the same period, marking the first year-over-year decline in sales of that product in company history.

As a result, Apple shares tumbled for eight consecutive days -- its longest losing streak since July 1998.