Alphabet's free cash flow turns negative as capex climbs [Oct 29 2026]
Alphabet's third quarter put a number on what the AI buildout costs the people paying for it. Revenue rose 25% to $127.6 billion and Google Cloud grew 103% to $30,709 million, but purchases of property and equipment reached $51,355 million and free cash flow was negative $9,065 million. CNBC called it Alphabet's first top-and-bottom-line miss in nearly four years, and shares slumped more than 10%. Microsoft, reporting the same day, disclosed Azure's revenue in dollars for the first time at $33.17 billion and said it is now planning $170 billion of capital expenditure and finance leases for…
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