The company reported a strong holiday quarter on Thursday. But its big spending on things like artificial intelligence and satellites is starting to make investors nervous.
Profits rose to $34.5 billion last quarter, as the tech giant gained ground with its Gemini system, bolstering its search business and YouTube.
Microsoft had one of its worst selloffs in history after it increased its AI spending plans. Meta did the same, but it was rewarded by investors. Why it matters: The wildly different market reactions to Meta and Microsoft earnings reveal the new calculus investors are using to evaluate AI winners and losers. State of play: Microsoft reported solid earnings , with revenue and profit beating expectations, but its stock fell nearly 12%. - Cloud revenue was up 39% from a year ago, but that was driven by non-AI workloads. Capital expenditure hit $37 billion for the quarter, a 65% jump. - That mismatch is the issue: If a company is spending a lot, fine, but it needs to be spending on AI investments that will make it money now. - Meta beat on…
Microsoft dropped 10%, shedding more than $350 billion in market value after its cloud business failed to impress, while Meta gained 10%.
AI:Microsoft’s market value cratered by over $350 billion following a massive 10% plunge triggered by lackluster performance in its cloud sector, signaling a major reality check for tech giants relying heavily on AI hype rather than tangible returns. While investors punished Microsoft for failing to meet expectations, Meta managed to rally with a 10% surge as capital began shifting toward companies capable of delivering actual profitability from their artificial intelligence investments. This market volatility underscores the growing demand for immediate payoffs and exposes the fragility of valuations built on speculative technology spending.Open
The rivals made billions of dollars in the business over the past year, showing other companies that Nvidia isn’t the only game in town.
The company said on Wednesday that revenue in the most recent quarter was $81.3 billion, but its share price dropped more than 5 percent in after-hours trading.
The e-commerce giant has been cutting costs in part to redirect money into building data centers to compete in the race to dominate artificial intelligence.
Google is rolling out an updated "Mayors AI Playbook " with the U.S. Conference of Mayors at the group's Winter Meeting in Washington today, the company first told Axios. Why it matters: Cities are spending more on technology, but many lack the expertise to deploy AI safely and at scale. Whoever helps them cross that gap could lock in years of government contracts. The big picture: Google's first AI playbook for mayors was about awareness. Now, it's about action: a blueprint for implementing AI strategies at the local level. What they're saying: "…the most important step you can take now is to just start. Don't wait for the perfect moment, the opportunity is now," Tom Cochran, USCM CEO and executive director said in a statement. - "AI…