- The FTC is moving toward finalizing an investigation into YouTube’s consumer-protection practices, and a potential lawsuit would add regulatory and operational risk to Alphabet’s core platform business.
- Investors are questioning Alphabet’s AI execution after Gemini 3.5 Pro fell months behind schedule and senior Google DeepMind personnel departed.
- Alphabet raised FY26 capital-expenditure expectations to $195 billion-$205 billion, reported negative Q2 free cash flow of $5.9 billion and warned that third-party capacity would pressure near-term margins.
- Alphabet agreed to pay £260 million to settle a UK class action alleging that Google overcharged software developers using the Google Play app store.
Quotes
“months behind schedule on delivering Gemini 3.5 Pro, its most powerful flagship AI model”
“given the supply constrained environment, we plan to expand the use of third-party capacity in Q3 as a bridging strategy”
“will create modest margin pressure in the near term.”
“overcharging developers who made software for the Google Play app store”