Google value plunges by $500bn as AI fears rattle Wall Street

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, experienced a significant $500 billion (374 billion) drop in its stock value on Thursday due to concerns over its AI-driven search engine impacting ad revenue. Google's overall revenue grew by 25%, reaching $127.6 billion, with strong performance in Google Cloud, which saw a staggering 103% increase to almost $31 billion.

However, the company's profits declined by 25% and it reported negative free cash flow of more than $9 billion, indicating that the company is spending more than it is earning. This decline in cash flow is primarily due to increased investments in AI for Google's search engine. The company's stock hit a six-month low after falling 12.7% on Thursday, reflecting investor apprehension about the impact of these AI investments on the company's core business lines.

Microsoft and Amazon also reported disappointing results this week, with Microsoft's shares falling less than 1% and Amazon's dropping 6%. Both companies invested heavily in AI and revealed plans to cut costs, while Amazon reported a staggering $42 billion in negative cash flow over the past three months. Despite these challenges, both Amazon and Microsoft have promising growth in their cloud businesses, with Amazon's cloud revenue reaching $63 billion and Microsoft's cloud revenue growing by 30% to $63 billion.

Microsoft's stock remained relatively stable, while Wall Street remains uncertain about where and how the technology industry will capitalize on the value of AI.