Shares of Alphabet - the parent company of Google - experienced a sharp decline during trading on Wednesday after it announced its fourth-quarter earnings report following the closing bell on Tuesday. The report showed that the company’s profits exceeded expectations, but it revealed weak revenue for the crucial Cloud business sector.
At the same time, Alphabet announced a significant increase in its planned capital expenditures for the next year, rising from $57.9 billion to $75 billion, which caused Google's stock to suffer losses exceeding 10% in the following trading session after the report raised concerns of larger spending increases.
Alphabet's announcement of its results comes at a time when China stated it would launch an antitrust investigation into Google, which many viewed as a retaliatory measure by China against the 10% tariffs imposed by U.S. President Trump on Chinese goods, adding to the pressures faced by the stock today.
In terms of trading, Alphabet's Class A shares (NASDAQ: GOOG) fell by 7.82% to reach $192.65, while Alphabet's Class B shares (NASDAQ: GOOGL) decreased by 7.92% to $190.85. This came after both stocks experienced losses exceeding 10% at the beginning of the session.
