Alphabet Faces Historic Market Value Drop of $500 Billion

Alphabet is poised for its worst trading day ever, with its stock plummeting approximately 12% on Thursday after the release of its third-quarter earnings. This decline represents a potential loss of nearly $500 billion in market value, marking the second-largest single-day drop for a US-listed company.

The stock's current trajectory could see it close at around $274.75, which would surpass Nvidia's record loss of $593 billion from January 2025. Alphabet's previous worst day was a $275 billion drop in July, and this latest decline is also the steepest following an earnings report since its public debut in 2004.

Despite a doubling of Google Cloud revenue to about $31 billion and the Gemini app surpassing 1 billion users, search revenue fell short of expectations, growing only 12% to approximately $63 billion. The company's free cash flow turned negative, reflecting a loss of about $9 billion due to increased AI spending. Analysts are divided on the implications of these results, with some viewing the downturn as a potential buying opportunity.