这家谷歌母公司公布，第三季度不含合作伙伴分成的营收为1112亿美元，低于分析师预测。搜索及其他渠道的广告营收也不及预期，增速为五个季度来最慢。这项业务约占公司总营收的一半，也是为巨额AI投资提供资金的关键来源。
摩根大通分析师Doug Anmuth等人在研报中表示，业绩和股价反应显示，对于投入数千亿美元建设AI基础设施的超大规模云服务商而言，一旦核心业务业绩令人失望，容错空间有多小。
截至纽约时间上午9：35，Alphabet股价下跌13%，至281.37美元，市值蒸发5110亿美元。这跟竞争对手微软的表现形成鲜明反差。微软云业务增速超出华尔街预期，同时控制支出，推动股价上涨。
谷歌首席商务官Philipp Schindler周三晚间在财报电话会议上表示，谷歌搜索中新推出的AI Mode标签页日益普及，对公司业绩造成了拖累。他表示，AI查询的“变现能力较低”，不过公司对此仍持乐观态度，并计划在搜索引擎的这一板块投放更多广告。
多年来，谷歌高管一直认为，AI聊天机器人和相关功能不会大幅侵蚀其搜索业务。但随着消费者转向ChatGPT、Claude以及谷歌自身的AI功能，投资者担心这会冲击公司的核心盈利来源。
Alphabet首席执行官Sundar Pichai面临的压力越来越大，他需要证明谷歌未来在数据中心、算力及电力等资源上逾1万亿美元的付款义务是合理的。Investing.com高级分析师Thomas Monteiro表示：“这个季度感觉像是Alphabet的关键时刻：要么Pichai及其团队解决AI变现问题，要么这家巨头就可能在不久的将来失去其在几项核心业务中的领先地位。”
Monteiro表示，除非谷歌证明自己也能靠AI收费，就像过去靠搜索广告收费那样，否则它发布的每一份资本支出预测看起来都不太像是在展现雄心，而更像是一张账单。
谷歌为自身及客户建设AI基础设施，推动资本支出升至纪录水平。公司正利用AI改造搜索引擎、YouTube和Gmail等广受欢迎的产品，但这些举措尚未带来投资者所期望的、足以证明其庞大支出合理性的营收。
第三季度谷歌服务业务总营收963亿美元，低于预期的984亿美元。YouTube广告营收112亿美元，也低于预期。
公司自由现金流连续第二个季度为负，为上市以来首次连续两季出现负值。
Alphabet的股权投资也拖累了公司利润。这些投资录得87亿美元亏损，很大程度上源于Alphabet所持SpaceX股份。这与一年前的投资收益以及第二季度的巨额收益形成鲜明反差；第二季度的收益主要来自SpaceX和一家非上市公司的投资，后来确认这家公司是Anthropic PBC。
Alphabet第三季度每股净利润为2.12美元，远低于华尔街预期的2.99美元。
财报中的一个亮点是谷歌云，该业务被视为衡量公司AI产品和托管服务需求的重要指标。谷歌云营收307亿美元、利润111亿美元，均高于分析师预期的291亿美元和98亿美元。该业务的大客户包括Anthropic等在AI竞赛中与谷歌竞争的初创公司。
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The Google parent company released $111.2 billion for the third quarter, which was lower than the analyst forecast. Advertisements from search and other sources were not collected as expected, and the increase was slowest in five quarters. This business, which accounts for about half of the company ' s total revenue, is also a key source of funding for large AI investments.
In his research, Morgan Chase Analyst Doug Anmuth et al. stated that performance and equity responses showed how small the margin of error would be if core business performance were to be disappointing for the super-sized cloud service providers that had invested hundreds of billions of dollars in the construction of AI infrastructure.
As of 9.35 a.m. New York time, Alphabet stock prices fell by 13 per cent to $281.37, with market value evaporating $51.1 billion. This contrasts sharply with the performance of Microsoft, a competitor. Microsoft cloud operations are growing faster than Wall Street expected, while controlling expenditures and driving stock price increases.
The Chief Business Officer of Google, Philipp Schindler, at the Press Telephone Conference on Wednesday night, stated that the growing popularity of the newly launched AI Mode tab page in Google searches had caused delays in company performance. He stated that the AI query had a low liquidity, although the company remained optimistic and planned to place more advertisements on this section of the search engine.
Over the years, Google executives have believed that the AI chat robot and associated functions would not significantly erode their search operations. However, as consumers shift to ChatGPT, Claude and Google ' s own AI function, investors fear that this will affect the company ' s core source of profits.
Chief Executive Officer Alphabet Sundar Pichai, under increasing pressure, needs to justify Google ' s future obligation to pay more than $1 trillion in resources such as data centres, computing power and electricity. Investing.com's senior analyst, Thomas Monteiro, states: “This quarter feels like a critical moment for Alphabet: either Pichai and his team solve the AI liquidity problem, or the giant may lose its leading position in several core operations in the near future.”
Monteiro states that, unless Google proves that it can also charge an AI fee, as it did in the past by searching for advertising, each of its publish capital expenditure projections does not look like an ambition, but rather a bill.
Google built AI infrastructure for itself and its clients, pushing capital spending to record levels. The company is using the Al search engine, YouTube and Gmail, among other popular products, but these initiatives have not yet led to the collection that investors expect and that is sufficient to justify their large expenditures.
In the third quarter, the total amount of $9.3 billion for Google Services operations was lower than the projected $98.4 billion. Youtube received $11.2 billion, which is also below expectations.
Company free cash flows were negative for the second consecutive quarter and negative for the first two consecutive seasons since they were listed.
Alphabet's equity investment has also slowed down corporate profits. These investments recorded a loss of $8.7 billion, due largely to SpaceX shares held by Alphabet. This contrasted sharply with the return on investment a year ago and the huge return on the second quarter, which was mainly from SpaceX and a non-listed company that was later identified as Anthropic PBC.
Alphabet ' s net profit in the third quarter was $2.12 per share, well below the expected $2.99 on Wall Street.
One of the highlights of the financial statements is Google Clouds, which is seen as an important indicator of corporate demand for AI products and hosting services. Google Clouds earned $30.7 billion and earned $11.1 billion, all of which were higher than the analysts' expectations of $29.1 billion and $9.8 billion. Major clients of the business include start-up companies such as Anthropic, which competed with Google in the AI competition.
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