"Alphabet shares (GOOGL) jumped 6% after Google's parent reported estimate-topping fourth-quarter results after the bell. Its combined share classes were then worth $554 billion, surpassing Apple (AAPL), which had a value of about $534 billion and whose shares were down slightly after hours."
Yes, and if you look at the market cap on both of GOOG and GOOGL on Google Finance, you'll note that they are the same (after close -- during trading they seem to be very close but slightly different, probably for timing reasons) and if you do the math, you'll see that for each they aren't reporting the individual cap but the combined cap.
My first reaction was that the problem was one or the other share class being excluded, and then I checked exactly the sources you cite and checked the numbers and realized that couldn't be the problem if.you used Google Finance reported market caps, because they don't report it that way.
