Shares of Google’s parent company just had their worst day ever. Here’s what it means

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Shares of Google’s parent company tumbled more than 12% on Thursday, their worst day on record — a historic single-day decline bigger than any day during the Covid-19 pandemic or 2008 financial crisis.

The drop erased roughly half a trillion in Alphabet’s ( GOOGL ) market value, the second-largest single-day wipeout in history, after Nvidia’s nearly-$600 billion slide in early 2025 .

Investors are increasingly scrutinizing Big Tech’s AI spending spree and how the technology is effecting their own businesses — and Alphabet is their latest target.

The company’s shares dropped sharply as investors fretted over slowing growth in Google’s search advertising business occurring alongside a continued ramp-up in spending on AI.

The world’s largest technology companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to build data centers, in a race to try and be among the winners of the artificial intelligence boom.

Wall Street is getting more cautious, attempting to sort out which companies are spending rationally, how those outlays are impacting other parts of their business, and who will actually benefit from AI’s transformative impact on society.

Alphabet reported quarterly sales figures on Wednesday that missed analysts’ expectations. Investors were dismayed by the miss in sales figures, which reignited longstanding concerns about whether the company’s cash cow – Google’s search advertising business – will be able to withstand the pressure of consumers increasingly using Google’s own (and competitors’) AI chat bots in the place of traditional search.

The fear is that this displacement might happen “faster than Google can react to it and pivot their business,” said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management.

The company also disclosed a second consecutive quarter of negative free cash flow, another metric causing concern among investors. Since going public in 2004, Google — which became Alphabet in 2015 — hadn’t posted a single quarter of negative free cash flow until this year. Strong free cash flow is one sign of a healthy company that can pay dividends, conduct share buybacks and reinvest in its business.

Alphabet recorded $51.4 billion in capital expenditures in the third quarter alone, compared to $91.4 billion for the entire year in 2025. As the company ramps up its spending on AI, including data center construction, it’s leaving less cash for the kind of immediate gratification investors love, like share buybacks and dividends.

In stark contrast to Alphabet’s negative free cash flow, Microsoft reported this week that it had $18.6 billion in free cash flow in the third quarter, even as it continues to spend billions on its AI buildout. Microsoft’s shares ended the day flat on Thursday while Alphabet shares dropped more than 12%.

“We are now getting to see who is spending rationally on AI and who is not,” said Richard Reyle, chief investment officer at Questar Capital Partners.

It might seem odd that shares of one of Big Tech’s biggest companies aren’t soaring after Anthropic filed its highly anticipated initial public offering prospectus just days earlier. Anthropic is committing to spending a lot of money to rent compute power from tech companies like Alphabet.

But that future promise isn’t guaranteed, especially if the data center buildout doesn’t go to plan or if the AI isn’t as profitable as expected. Alphabet is asking investors to believe in its vision for AI and the data center buildout, while also trying to monetize AI and show it can generate strong returns from the technology.

Growth in Big Tech companies’ cloud computing divisions is a sign that demand for AI continues to be robust. But the market is on edge about anything that could go wrong for the AI boom.

Big Tech companies like Alphabet are turning to debt and financial markets to raise more capital to help fuel their ambitions. While companies say they are trying to keep up with demand, the competition for funds from investors is rising.

“Everybody is trying to get through the door at the same time, and it gives people pause,” said Ted Mortonson, an investment strategist at Baird who focuses on the tech sector.

Wall Street is becoming more disconcerting about the data center buildout, and companies that are burning through free cash flow are getting punished.

贾斯汀·沙利文/盖蒂图片社

谷歌母公司股价周四暴跌超过 12%，创下历史最大单日跌幅——这是自新冠疫情或 2008 年金融危机以来最大的单日跌幅。

此次下跌使 Alphabet (GOOGL) 的市值蒸发了约 5000 亿美元，这是历史上第二大单日跌幅，仅次于英伟达在 2025 年初市值暴跌近 6000 亿美元。

投资者越来越关注大型科技公司在人工智能领域的大手笔支出，以及这项技术如何影响他们自身的业务——而 Alphabet 是他们最新的目标。

由于投资者担心谷歌搜索广告业务增长放缓，而与此同时，谷歌在人工智能领域的支出却持续增加，导致该公司股价大幅下跌。

全球最大的科技公司正斥资数千亿美元建设数据中心，竞相成为人工智能热潮的赢家。

华尔街变得越来越谨慎，试图弄清楚哪些公司在理性支出，这些支出如何影响其业务的其他部分，以及谁将真正受益于人工智能对社会的变革性影响。

Alphabet周三公布的季度销售数据低于分析师预期，令投资者失望。这一销售数据不及预期，再次引发了人们长期以来的担忧：该公司最赚钱的业务——谷歌搜索广告业务——能否经受住消费者越来越多地使用谷歌（以及竞争对手）的AI聊天机器人取代传统搜索的冲击。

Argent Capital Management 的投资组合经理 Jed Ellerbroek 表示，人们担心这种变化可能会“比谷歌做出反应和调整业务的速度更快”。

该公司还披露了连续第二个季度的负自由现金流，这一指标也引发了投资者的担忧。自2004年上市以来，谷歌（2015年更名为Alphabet）此前从未出现过负自由现金流的情况，直到今年。强劲的自由现金流是公司健康发展的标志之一，表明公司能够支付股息、进行股票回购并对业务进行再投资。

Alphabet 仅在第三季度就录得 514 亿美元的资本支出，而 2025 年全年的资本支出预计将达到 914 亿美元。随着该公司加大对人工智能（包括数据中心建设）的投入，用于投资者喜爱的即时回报（例如股票回购和分红）的现金就相应减少了。

与Alphabet的负自由现金流形成鲜明对比的是，微软本周公布第三季度自由现金流为186亿美元，即便该公司仍在人工智能领域持续投入数十亿美元。周四，微软股价收盘持平，而Alphabet股价下跌超过12%。

“我们现在可以看到哪些公司在人工智能领域理性投资，哪些公司没有，”Questar Capital Partners 的首席投资官 Richard Reyle 表示。

就在几天前，Anthropic公司提交了备受瞩目的首次公开募股（IPO）招股说明书，但这家大型科技公司之一的股价却并未飙升，这或许令人感到奇怪。Anthropic公司承诺斥巨资从Alphabet等科技公司租用计算能力。

但未来的前景并非板上钉钉，尤其是在数据中心建设未能按计划进行，或者人工智能的盈利能力不如预期的情况下。Alphabet一方面希望投资者相信其人工智能愿景和数据中心建设计划，另一方面也在努力实现人工智能的商业化，并证明这项技术能够带来丰厚的回报。

大型科技公司云计算部门的增长表明，市场对人工智能的需求依然强劲。但市场对人工智能热潮可能出现的任何不利因素都保持警惕。

像Alphabet这样的科技巨头正转向债务融资和金融市场，以筹集更多资金来支持其发展雄心。尽管这些公司声称正在努力满足市场需求，但来自投资者的资金竞争却日益激烈。

“每个人都想同时挤进这扇门，这让人们犹豫不决，”贝尔德投资策略师泰德·莫顿森说道，他专注于科技行业。

华尔街对数据中心建设越来越感到不安，那些消耗自由现金流的公司正在受到惩罚。