Google has raced ahead of Exxon Mobil as the world's No. 2 most valuable company, and the advertising company is fast narrowing the gap on No. 1 Apple.
The ability to collect lucrative data from its users and sell them to advertisers is turning Google into a money-machine few companies can match. Google's market value is now $389.6 billion in mid-day trading, pulling past Exxon Mobil at $389.3 billion. Shares of Google are up $14.40 to $1174.36 a share Friday, as Exxon Mobil is up 20 cents to $90.
The race for the top has been a battle between Exxon Mobil, Apple and Microsoft for years. But now Google clearly has the momentum higher as the others either stall or falter. Shares of Apple have been falling since September 12, destroying enormous amounts of market value. Apple's value surged to more than $600 billion in September 2012 as it dominance in mobile hardware appeared uncontested. Apple's value has since cratered to $457 billion.
Google's ability to bundle its advertising services to the Android mobile operating system, which is given to free to handset makers, has powered its profit and stock price in addition to Web-based searches. Shares of Google have soared more than 82% since 2012 as profits power higher as consumers gravitate to its free services and refuse to use those of competitors. Google collects data on consumers searches and other behavior online and sells them to advertisers.
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