Under new CEO Greg Abel, Berkshire Hathaway reduced its massive cash stockpile to $364.7 billion in Q2 2026, investing $10 billion in Alphabet and repurchasing over $7.8 billion in stock since March, while reporting a 16% rise in operating earnings.
Alphabet announced a significant restructuring of its AI leadership, with Demis Hassabis stepping down as Google DeepMind CEO to become chief scientist and chairman, while longtime chief scientist Jeff Dean is leaving after 27 years to found a new AI startup. The shake-up sent Alphabet shares down more than 5%.
Uber Technologies shares dropped sharply after the company issued third-quarter earnings guidance below analyst expectations while announcing plans to invest over $10 billion in robotaxi expansion. The weak outlook comes amid uncertainty over its partnership with Waymo, though Uber maintains the Alphabet unit remains an important partner.
Major technology companies including Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Oracle have committed approximately $1.09 trillion in future lease payments for AI data centers, part of a broader $2.4 trillion infrastructure investment plan. The expansion is straining power grids and raising concerns about infrastructure costs.
Scale AI Inc. has named Francis deSouza, an executive from Alphabet Inc.'s Google, as its first permanent CEO in over a year, following Meta Platforms Inc.'s $14.3 billion investment in the data-labeling startup and subsequent hiring of its previous CEO.
Alphabet's autonomous driving unit Waymo is considering options to exit its robotaxi partnership with Uber Technologies as relations between the two companies deteriorate amid increasing competition in the self-driving vehicle market.
Bitcoin remained resilient around $65,400 on Friday while the Magnificent Seven megacap tech stocks experienced their worst trading day since April 2025, shedding $797 billion in market value amid concerns over AI capital expenditure forecasts from Alphabet and Tesla earnings disappointments.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has integrated xStocks tokenized equities into its Dual Asset structured product, offering fixed-return yield products backed by shares of SpaceX, Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Coinbase, and Amazon with investment periods ranging from 8 hours to 1 day.
Alphabet's Google released three new versions of its Gemini AI model on July 21, 2026—Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, and Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber—while providing no timeline for its flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro model, which has missed its June launch target by several weeks.
DeFi lending protocol Edel Finance halted its version-one protocol after an attacker exploited the wrapping mechanism for tokenized Alphabet stock, artificially inflating collateral values by 7,700% and extracting $403,000. The team stated no depositors would bear losses.
A Los Angeles jury found Alphabet's Google and Meta liable for $3 million in damages in a landmark social media addiction lawsuit. The verdict, following a five-week trial, could influence thousands of similar cases pending against social media platforms.
