Alphabet loses more than $500 billion in market value
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Bénin Web TV
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, lost more than $500 billion in market capitalisation after shares fell 13% on Wall Street. The sell-off came despite a 25% quarterly revenue increase, as investors feared the impact of AI-generated summaries on advertising, Bénin Web TV reports.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, lost just over $500 billion in market capitalisation on Wall Street on Thursday 29 October. Its shares fell by nearly 13%, bringing the group’s valuation to $3.46 trillion, down from $3.97 trillion the previous day, according to Bénin Web TV.
The shares hit their lowest level in six months as investors worried about the effect of AI-generated summaries on the search engine’s advertising revenue. These summaries reduced the number of ads sold during the quarter, while search result advertising is Alphabet’s main business.
The decline came despite a 25% year-on-year increase in quarterly revenue to $127.6 billion. Google Cloud recorded growth of 103%, with revenue of nearly $31 billion, while profits fell by 25% and free cash flow turned negative at more than $9 billion amid spending on artificial intelligence, according to Bénin Web TV.
Thursday’s fall extends a decline of more than 10% reported on 29 October after disappointing results. It also follows the international expansion of Google’s AI ads, announced on 28 October.
