Alphabet

Google Cloud is no longer the side business. Revenue jumped 82 percent in the second quarter of 2026 to 24.8 billion dollars, and profit from that business more than tripled to 8.8 billion. Nearly 90 percent of the biggest 100 companies in America now use Google's Gemini business tools. That is the fastest growth this segment has ever posted.

People worried AI chatbots would kill Google Search. Instead, Search revenue grew 17 percent to 63.3 billion dollars this quarter, and Google says its AI features are the reason people are searching more. YouTube ads grew 13 percent to 11.1 billion, helped by 1.7 billion viewers watching World Cup videos.

To build all these AI data centers, Alphabet raised 49.6 billion dollars by selling new stock and preferred shares in June, plus another 20.3 billion in borrowed money. Long-term debt has more than doubled since December to 98.2 billion dollars. If AI demand slows, that spending becomes a very expensive problem.

Profit looked spectacular this quarter, up 298 percent, but most of that came from a 98 billion dollar gain on investments Alphabet holds in other companies. That is an on-paper number that can swing the other way just as fast. The real operating profit grew a healthy but far less dramatic 30 percent.