Alphabet shares fell roughly 12% to around $285 after free cash flow turned negative for a second straight quarter, reaching negative $9.07 billion in the third quarter. Capital expenditure rose 114.4% year over year to $51.36 billion, above operating cash flow of $42.29 billion, mostly for AI infrastructure. The company pays a $0.22 quarterly dividend, which took about 6.9% of operating cash flow in the second quarter ($2.689 billion), and it holds $56.33 billion in cash. The gap is being filled by $28.7 billion in net proceeds from senior notes and new shares sold through an at-the-market program, while buybacks dropped to zero in the second quarter and the program was suspended. The article judges the dividend not at major risk for now, and says the next annual dividend decision is the key signal to watch.
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Related tickers and likely impact
GOOGL
▼ Likely negativeAlphabet Inc. (Class A)
Relevance: high
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Communication Services |
| Industry | Interactive Media & Services |
| Market cap | $4.0T |
| Close on 10/28/2026 | 325.61 |
| Change that session | +1.57% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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