गूगल के मूल अल्फाबेट के शेयर गुरुवार को 13% तक गिर गए जब प्रौद्योगिकी दिग्गज वॉल स्ट्रीट की तीसरी तिमाही की आय की उम्मीदों से चूक गई, इसके मुख्य खोज विज्ञापन व्यवसाय में धीमी वृद्धि और निवेशकों के बीच चिंताओं को बढ़ाते हुए कृत्रिम बुद्धिमत्ता खर्च में वृद्धि हुई।
अमेरिकी व्यापार के दौरान वर्णमाला के शेयरों में 13.4% की गिरावट आई, जिससे बाजार मूल्य में सैकड़ों अरब डॉलर का सफाया हो गया और स्टॉक में एक दिन की सबसे बड़ी गिरावट आई।
यह बिक्री जुलाई - सितंबर तिमाही में कंपनी के शुद्ध लाभ में सालाना 25% की गिरावट के बाद हुई, जो पिछले साल की इसी अवधि में 34.98 बिलियन डॉलर की तुलना में 26.17 बिलियन डॉलर थी। राजस्व 25% बढ़कर $ 127.58 बिलियन हो गया, जो एक साल पहले $ 102.35 बिलियन था, हालांकि यह फैक्टसेट द्वारा सर्वेक्षण किए गए विश्लेषकों द्वारा अपेक्षित $ 127.97 बिलियन से कम था।
अमेरिकी बाजारों पर लाइव अपडेट के लिए, यहां क्लिक करें
वर्णमाला ने प्रति शेयर $ 2.12 की कमाई की सूचना दी, एक साल पहले $ 2.87 की तुलना में। एलएसईजी डेटा के अनुसार, इसकी प्रति शेयर $ 2.67 की समायोजित आय भी वॉल स्ट्रीट की लगभग $ 3.02 की उम्मीदों से चूक गई।
Google के क्लाउड कंप्यूटिंग और AI सेवाओं की मजबूत मांग के बावजूद निराशाजनक कमाई का प्रदर्शन आया, जिसने कंपनी को लगातार 13वीं तिमाही में दो अंकों की राजस्व वृद्धि देने में मदद की।
अल्फाबेट की तिमाही आय इक्विटी निवेश पर $ 8.7 बिलियन के नुकसान से प्रभावित हुई, जिससे रिपोर्ट की गई लाभप्रदता कम हो गई।
AI खर्च नकदी प्रवाह को नकारात्मक क्षेत्र में भेजता है
Investors were also concerned about the growing cost of Alphabet's AI investments. The company reported negative free cash flow of $9.1 billion during the September quarter, compared with analysts' expectations that cash flow would remain close to breakeven.
Capital expenditure surged to $51.4 billion, more than double the amount spent in the corresponding quarter last year, as Alphabet expanded its data centres, computing infrastructure and AI capabilities.
The September quarter marked the company's second consecutive quarter of negative free cash flow, following an outflow of $5.9 billion in the June quarter.
Alphabet has maintained its capital expenditure guidance of $195 billion to $205 billion for 2026. CFO Anat Ashkenazi indicated that spending would increase significantly in 2027 as the company continues to expand its AI infrastructure.
The prospect of sustained spending has raised questions about how quickly Alphabet can generate returns from its investments, particularly as competition intensifies across the AI industry.
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Google's core search business also disappointed investors despite reporting double-digit revenue growth. Revenue from Google Search and other advertising increased 12% year-on-year to $63.35 billion, slowing from 17% growth in the preceding quarter.
YouTube advertising revenue rose 9% to $11.21 billion, while total Google advertising revenue increased to $82.01 billion.
The advertising business missed market expectations, adding to concerns that changing user behaviour and the growing adoption of AI-powered search tools could affect Google's traditional advertising model.
Alphabet has been expanding AI-generated answers across Google Search, including its conversational AI Mode, as more users turn to AI assistants for information.
However, monetisation of these services remains an important challenge as traditional search advertisements continue to account for a substantial portion of the company's revenue.
Google Cloud remained the strongest-performing business during the quarter, with revenue surging 103% year-on-year to a record $30.71 billion from $15.16 billion. Growth was supported by demand for AI infrastructure, enterprise AI solutions and Google's cloud computing services.
The company also reported increasing demand for its custom tensor processing units, or TPUs, which are designed to support AI workloads.
Google Cloud's order backlog reached $561 billion, reflecting significant demand for computing capacity and related services.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said the company had reached an annualised revenue run rate exceeding $500 billion, supported by growth across its businesses. He also said Google's Gemini AI application had crossed one billion users, making it the fastest-growing product in the company's history.
