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# Alphabet had its worst day since listing in 2004, and Amazon's cash flow sank further below zero
- URL: https://www.sharespective.com/stories/alphabet-worst-day-since-listing-2004-2026-10-30/
- Published: 2026-10-29T21:15:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-29T21:50:34.000Z
- Description: Alphabet shares closed at US$283.82 on Thursday, the day after its results. The fall erased about US$500 billion, the second-largest one-day loss for any US-listed company. Only Nvidia, which shed US$593 billion in January 2025, has lost more.
- Author: Shaun Botha
- Tags: Big tech, #story, #group-other, Google, Amazon

Alphabet shares closed at US$283.82 on Thursday, the day after its results. The fall erased about US$500 billion, the second-largest one-day loss for any US-listed company. Only Nvidia, which shed US$593 billion in January 2025, has lost more.

**The problem is the cash.** Free cash flow, the money left after running the business and paying for equipment, was negative US$9.1 billion in the September quarter. It was Alphabet's second quarter in a row below zero.

Chief financial officer Anat Ashkenazi said spending would rise significantly again in 2027\. She gave no number. Alphabet already expects to spend between US$195 billion and US$205 billion this year.

[![Chart: Alphabet's spending closes in on its cash. Yearly cash from operations and capital spending, 2013 to 2025, in US$bn. The gap is free cash flow, which was negative US$9.1bn in the September quarter of 2026.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/02/71/0271df32-cec6-421f-9f13-b06ab90e54c1/content/images/2026/10/chart-alphabet-yearly-cash-operations-2026-10-30-wide-light.jpg)](https://www.sharespective.com/chart-alphabet-yearly-cash-operations-2026-10-30/) 

This story’s chart of the day: the numbers, the dark version and the animated version are on its own page. [The chart’s page →](https://www.sharespective.com/chart-alphabet-yearly-cash-operations-2026-10-30/)

Amazon reported after Thursday's close and hit the same nerve. AWS, its cloud business, grew 39%, the fastest pace in nearly five years. But free cash flow over the past 12 months was an outflow of US$42.4 billion, against an inflow of US$14.8 billion a year earlier.

Amazon's earnings and advertising sales also came in below forecasts. The shares fell as much as 10% in late trading before recovering some ground.

The open question 

our read is that the market has stopped paying for cloud growth on its own. Both companies grew their cloud businesses faster than forecast, and both are spending faster still. Neither said on Thursday when that spending turns back into cash.

[ This story ran in Half a Trillion Friday 30 October’s edition, with the market snapshot, the other two stories, the numbers and the week ahead. Read the whole edition → ](https://www.sharespective.com/sharespective-2026-10-30/)