Google's moonshots appear not so crazy now as company proves its worth beyond mobile ads

Alphabet, the technology giant formerly known as Google, still makes majority of its revenue from ads, but it's starting to build big gains elsewhere. SEE ALSO: Google's PR team penned the mother of all replies Google reported $3.7 billion in other revenue, including hardware and leaving out advertising, for the fourth quarter of 2016. It was bump up by 62 percent from the year prior. "Our growth in the fourth quarter was exceptional," said Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet, in a statement. "This performance was led by mobile search and YouTube.