Alphabet shares fell 12.64% on Thursday, October 29, 2026, closing at $283.82, The Hindu reported. Reports put the lost value near $482 billion, the worst day since 2004. Investors again questioned whether heavy AI spending will pay off.
Revenue rose 25% to $127.6 billion. Google Cloud revenue grew 103%, and its operating income reached $11.1 billion, up from $3.6 billion. Alphabet spent $51.4 billion on data centres, servers and networking gear, against $42.3 billion in operating cash. Free cash flow was negative $9.1 billion. Finance chief Anat Ashkenazi pointed to stock built up for Google's own AI chips, called TPUs, and a $5.2 billion European Commission fine. Search ad revenue grew 12%, after 17% the quarter before. Philipp Schindler said currency moves were the biggest factor, with retail and media ad trends also playing a part. He said AI Mode queries earn less than classic Search, and ads there are still being tested. Sundar Pichai said Search query growth was the highest in five years. The Hindu does not say whether returns will match the spending.
Cloud is growing and profitable, while the new AI search format earns less per query. Buyers can ask how contracts handle capacity and pricing, and how ad results are tracked as queries move to AI formats.