New York, June 18, 2026, 07:33 (EDT)
- Alphabet Class A stock slipped 0.42% to $362.26 before the bell.
- Noam Shazeer, co-lead on Gemini, is leaving Google and heading to OpenAI, a key rival.
- Investors have three things to watch: how AI plays out, fresh UK search rules, and what higher interest rates mean.
Alphabet Class A (GOOGL) lost 0.42% to $362.26 in premarket trading Thursday. Noam Shazeer, a top leader for Google’s Gemini AI, is going to OpenAI. “Incredibly proud of the amazing team at Google,” Shazeer said. Google called his work “meaningful.” Google reportedly paid $2.7 billion less than two years ago to bring Shazeer and his group back. Investing.com
Gemini is central now as Alphabet tries to protect Search and boost its cloud business, even as it pours cash into a bigger AI push. Alphabet this month raised its planned equity sales to $84.75 billion and kept its 2026 capex targets between $180 billion and $190 billion. Capex covers data centers, chips and other large assets.
Alphabet ended Wednesday at $363.79, off 2.53%. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.34% and the S&P 500 was down 1.21%. The Fed signaled it could still hike rates this year, sticking to a hawkish stance and showing it may keep rates high or push them higher.
Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 1.36% early Thursday, pointing to a higher open. Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, said the policy setup means “a higher bar for near-term action in either direction.” Reuters
Shazeer leaving doesn’t hit earnings right away. The bigger issue for markets is if Google can keep up with Gemini’s rollout schedule and hold on to key technical talent. Google hasn’t picked a successor. When Shazeer will actually leave hasn’t been specified.
Google faced new regulatory pressure on Wednesday after Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority told the company to follow objective ranking criteria, make complaint channels clearer, and let users move their search data. “Step by step, we’re ensuring that Google’s search services work better for businesses and consumers across the UK,” CMA Executive Director Will Hayter said. Reuters
Alphabet kept up solid growth in the first quarter as revenue climbed 22% to $109.9 billion. Google Cloud posted a 63% jump in sales, hitting $20 billion. Cloud operating income hit $6.6 billion, about triple last year. CEO Sundar Pichai said, “Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business.” SEC
Google Cloud is still in third place worldwide after Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. But its first-quarter growth beat both rivals. “The revenue trend showed that Alphabet’s $180 billion spending plan was well within the company’s spending power,” said Thomas Monteiro, a senior analyst at Investing.com. Reuters
But the risks are also in focus. More exits could cause delays at Gemini even as OpenAI keeps hiring. UK remedies might put limits on pieces of Search. Higher rates can weigh on valuations for future profits. There’s also dilution from the new-share plan — every new share chips away at the value of existing ones unless AI expansion pays off quicker than stock issuance.
U.S. stock markets wrap up for the week on Thursday. The Nasdaq and NYSE are shut Friday, June 19, for Juneteenth, reopening Monday. Market watchers focus on Google succession news and the stock once trading picks up again.
