Alphabet Burns $5.9B in Free Cash Flow as AI Capex Hits $44.9B
GOOG sits 74% above its 52-week low of $197.46.
Summary
Alphabet posted negative free cash flow of $5.9 billion in Q2, driven by $44.9 billion in capex—mostly for AI infrastructure and cloud. This is a sharp cash burn that raises questions about the sustainability of its spending pace. Berkshire Hathaway's stake, now worth about $1.233 billion, is up roughly $205 million since Q1, but that's a small offset. French press groups are probing Google over AI summaries they claim cut traffic 33–38%, adding regulatory risk. DeepMind leadership is in flux: Demis Hassabis stepped down as CEO, Koray Kavukcuoglu takes over key duties, and Jeff Dean left. A Los Angeles jury found Google liable for youth mental-health harm, assigning 30% of damages—another legal overhang. BNP Paribas maintains Outperform with a $420 target, but the cash burn and legal pile-up are the real story.
At the time of this announcement, GOOG was trading at $344.25 on NASDAQ in the Technology sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.2T. The 52-week trading range was $197.46 to $404.47. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10. Source: Wiseek News.