Gmail has a billion active users

Google’s Gmail now has over a billion active monthly users. This was announced by Google CEO Sundar Pichai during the announcement of Alphabet’s quarterly figures. In addition, Alphabet has indicated for the first time what its ‘gambles’, such as Nest, cost.

Alphabet reports total revenue of USD 21.33 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015. Of that amount, the majority, USD 21.178 billion, is accounted for by Google. Alphabet divides the income into two parts, namely Google and the other bets. Other bets include business units such as Nest, Google Ventures, Google Fiber and Verily. Google includes Android, Search, YouTube, Apps, Maps and Ads.

It is the first time that Alphabet shows so clearly where the profits come from and what the so-called gambling costs cost. Other bets performed better than in 2014. Their turnover was 37 percent higher than the year before, at $ 448 million. Most of that came from Nest, Fiber and Verily. In total, Alphabet lost $3.6 billion to the other bets.

Alphabet’s market value now stands at $568 billion, while Apple is valued at $534.66 billion, making Alphabet the most valuable company at this snapshot in time. Alphabet’s total annual revenue is USD 74.5 billion, with an annual profit of USD 23.4 billion. Placing advertisements on its own sites still yields the most, namely $13.037 billion.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp reached one billion monthly active users and Facebook claims more than 1.6 billion active accounts. Facebook is now fifth on the list of highest-rated companies, with a market capitalization of 327.41 billion. With Google, however, Alphabet has more parts that are well over a billion active monthly users, such as YouTube, Android, Maps, Chrome, Google Play and the old Google Search.