Alphabet's Q2 revenue surged 14%, driven by strong advertising growth, indicating AI chatbots like ChatGPT haven't impacted Google's search engine dominance.  Cloud computing revenue saw even stro...

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- Alphabet's Q2 revenue surged 14%, driven by strong advertising growth, indicating AI chatbots like ChatGPT haven't impacted Google's search engine dominance.
- Cloud computing revenue saw even stronger growth, reflecting high demand for computing and data services as companies integrate AI.
- Alphabet's revenue hit $84.7bn, surpassing analyst expectations, with net income rising 28% to $23.6bn.
- CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted ongoing momentum in search and cloud, despite criticism for slow commercialization of AI technology.
- Alphabet's stock has risen by nearly a third this year, with significant investments in AI and data centers, though some analysts found the Q2 results less exciting than Q1. 

 Source: FT

Alphabet's Q2 Revenue Soars Amid AI and Cloud Growth

Journalist

Alphabet's Q2 Revenue Soars Amid AI and Cloud Growth- Grapevine

- ChatGPT has reshaped global information-seeking since its 2022 debut, popularizing AI chatbots.
- Despite fears, Google Search remains dominant, with a 91.1% market share in June and rising ad revenue.
- Analysts credit Google's AI integration, particularly Gemini, for boosting search query growth and product performance.
- Google faces antitrust scrutiny, with ongoing cases accusing it of monopolizing the digital search and advertising markets.
- A ruling on the Department of Justice's antitrust case against Google is expected in late 2024.

ChatGPT's Rise Doesn't Dethrone Google Search

- HubSpot shares dropped 12% after reports that Alphabet is no longer pursuing an acquisition.
- Bloomberg cited sources saying there were no detailed discussions about due diligence between the companies.
- Representatives from both HubSpot and Alphabet did not respond to requests for comment.
- Regulatory pushback has affected other tech deals, including Amazon's and Microsoft's recent acquisitions.
- HubSpot's rapid growth contrasts with Alphabet's, with HubSpot reporting over 20% revenue growth for the past six quarters.

HubSpot Shares Plunge 12% as Alphabet Shelves Acquisition Plans

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Atleast not in the form it is now. Found a rare good post on LinkedIn via Twitter which lists the reason why i think so. Also, I was reading psychology of money and one of the chapters discussed how GE used to be the most valued company in 2000s and how within 20 years, everything went to manhole.

Google is seriously going through a leadership crisis. I hate Pichai from the gut. We Indians like him coz he's brown munda, but I have never seen such narrow minded CEO since Balmer.

Hot Take: Google will not exist in next 30 years

Many other xooglers raised these leadership issues earlier. 
 Meanwhile, tier2/3 kids are burning midnight oil to land up in Google to start YT channel

Software Engineer

Google is back in Ai race

- Sequoia and GS have raised concerns about 'too much capex, too little revenue,' leading to market worries about ROI and the sustainability of the capex supercycle.
- NVIDIA could see $80B in revenue from its Data Center, implying a 50% increase in global cloud capex.
- Big Tech's combined CapEx for FY24 is projected at $210B, with 70% estimated for AI-related infrastructure.
- Training costs for AI models are skyrocketing, with future models potentially costing $50-100B to train.
- The AI investment race could lead to Big Tech becoming 'cash poor' in 3-4 years if ROI doesn't materialize quickly. 
- AI revenue is impressive, with ~$20B in intermittent API/software revenue, but the real issue is the uncontrolled growth in capex.

Source: [ Freda Duan- Investor at Altimeter Capital ](https://x.com/FredaDuan/status/1820306321062891821)

Capex vs. AI Revenue: Market Concerns and Future Outlook

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ChatGPT made $152Mn in the last year

Operations Manager

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Google has potentially lost Google Drive user data.

I am impacted. Cant find files of recent months. They are not much important to me.

https://support.google.com/drive/thread/245055606/google-drive-files-suddenly-disappeared-the-drive-literally-went-back-to-condition-in-may-2023?hl=en

Google drive data lost for users

They did a mass delete for inactive accounts recently, no.
Guess they forgot a WHERE clause

- Character.ai is pivoting from building AI models to enhancing its consumer products following Google's $2.7bn deal. 
- The company's new interim CEO, Dominic Perella, revealed that the focus will now be on their popular chatbots. 
- This decision comes after Google hired 20% of Character.ai's staff, including co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas. 
- With the funds from the Google deal, Character.ai bought out its investors and distributed company ownership among employees. 
- The company plans to continue AI research and is hopeful of avoiding antitrust concerns.

Source: [Financial Times](https://www.ft.com/content/f2a9b5d4-05fe-4134-b4fe-c24727b85bba)

Character.ai Shifts Focus to Consumer Products Post $2.7bn Google Deal

Been seeing a lot of articles by the publication praising google's gen AI model - Gemini and the strategy around it. Articles heavily implying doom is just around the corner for Open AI because Gemini is going to kill it.

I firmly think Open AI currently has a huge headstart, and is the model of choice for devs as well as general folks and google (where i also work) has a lot (A LOT!) of catching up to do. Does anyone get the same sense from their articles?

What is the deal with Analytics India Mag

Investor

Google is sick 🤢 !! 700 million to fire people.

Product Designer

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Consulting companies are big winners of the AI boom as companies pour money into AI projects. 20% of BCG's revenue is now AI related while McKinsey is at 40%. Accenture made $300M last year while IBM did $1B in AI consulting revenue.

A dying flame burns brighter!!

Consultant

Was just reading The Ken’s article they posted today around what went behind Bain’s recent layoffs - made me think a lot. More so because I rejected my offer from Bain in college to go join a startup.

Bain is a titan in the consulting world, what made it stumble so hard in India? By now, all of us know Bain let go 15-20% of its workforce, a shocking move that reveals deep problems.

What went wrong?
1/ Putting all eggs in one basket: Bain's excessive dependence on Tiger Global (60-70% of PE consulting revenue) proved catastrophic when Tiger faltered. When Tiger faltered, Bain was left scrambling.
2/ Overconfidence led to overhiring: The 2022 hiring spree, nearly doubling B-school intake, reveals a dangerous disconnect between market realities and internal optimism. Now, with less work, those hires became a burden.
3/ Reputation at Risk: Layoffs may solve immediate financial woes, but the long-term damage to Bain's employer brand could prove costly in an industry that thrives on top talent.
4/ Others learn from Bain's mistakes: While Bain stumbled, rival BCG played it safer and is now in a stronger position.
5/ Growth isn't everything: Bain's fall shows that in consulting, steady relationships and smart hiring matter more than just getting bigger.

So thankful for not joining consulting post college 🙏🏼

Rejected my offer from Bain to join a startup 6 years ago - best decision in hindsight

Never believed consulting created any real business value. The model is itself self defeating. Great decision , joining startup !

We begin at 10:30pm 🕥 
Looking forward to seeing what does Google come up with after a stellar performance by OpenAI yesterday.

OpenAI has killed 10k+ Startups yesterday. Either Google stock going 🚀 or 🔻🔻

🟢 Live: Google I/O watchalong

Venture Capital

In a race to AGI, Tech giants are prioritizing compute over hiring techies. 

Google also plans to spend 25 billion $ to build one zettaflops (1000 exaflops) of compute....  

Tesla plans to have compute of around 100 exaflops by around October 2024...

Same case with Microsoft. 

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/18/24042354/mark-zuckerberg-meta-agi-reorg-interview

Meta to operate "600000 H100 GPU equivalents of compute" worth 18 billion $ by year-end for open source AGI. This explains cost cutting by tech giants.

Alphabet's Q2 Revenue Soars Amid AI and Cloud Growth

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