{
  "id": 17080188,
  "title": "Google’s AI bet bites back in record US$500b market wipeout",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/googles-ai-bet-bites-back-in-record-us-500b-market-wipeout",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-29T15:18:48.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Straits Times Business",
    "slug": "straits-times-business",
    "url": "https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/googles-ai-bet-bites-back-in-record-us500b-market-wipeout"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Alphabet's shares plummeted more than 13% in the most significant-ever market value decline of over US$500 billion following a report of disappointing search and advertising sales. The Google parent company disclosed third-quarter sales of US$111.2 billion, which fell short of analysts' projections. The ad sales from search and other channels, which account for roughly half of overall revenue, also missed expectations, growing at the slowest pace in five quarters. JPMorgan analysts stated that the results and share reaction reveal the margin for error when a hyperscaler investing billions in AI infrastructure experiences disappointing results in its core business. The decline came in stark contrast to Microsoft's growth in its cloud business, which outperformed Wall Street's expectations. Google's AI Mode, a new tab in Google Search, reportedly affected the company's results, as AI queries have lower monetization. While Google executives maintain that AI chatbots and features won't significantly impact its search business, investors remain concerned about the effect on the company's cash cow as users turn to rivals like ChatGPT and Google's own AI features. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai faces mounting pressure to demonstrate how the company monetizes AI to justify its more than US$1 trillion in future payments for resources like data centers, computing, and energy required to power AI ambitions. The company's capital expenditures surged to record levels, with Google focusing on AI overhauls for products such as search, YouTube, and Gmail. However, these efforts have yet to generate the desired revenue to justify the spending. Google's overall services revenue in the third quarter was US$96.3 billion, below expectations for US$98.4 billion. YouTube advertising sales also fell short of projections at US$11.2 billion. In the meantime, Google's AI-related future commitments reached US$924 billion, including US$152 billion in upcoming obligations such as data-center leases, resulting in the company's total future obligations exceeding US$1 trillion. For the second consecutive quarter, the company reported negative free cash flow, a situation it had not experienced since going public.",
  "summary": "The pressure is mounting on Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}