New York, May 15, 2026, 18:31 EDT
Alphabet shares slid on Friday, with Google stock softer as investors exited big tech. Traders kept an eye on Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square. Alphabet Class A was last at $396.78, down 1.1%. Class C was down 1.0% at $393.32.
AI-fueled gains faded and stocks fell. Oil pushed higher and Treasury yields rose, weighing on growth names. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.54%. The S&P 500 slid 1.24%. The Dow Jones was down 1.07%. “The market had gotten way ahead of itself,” said Kenny Polcari, chief market strategist at Slatestone Wealth. Reuters
Pershing Square is done with Alphabet. Bill Ackman’s fund sold its Alphabet stake in the second quarter, Reuters said, and put the money into Microsoft shares. Ackman holds zero Alphabet now, a person familiar said. He called Microsoft’s valuation “highly compelling.” Reuters
Stocks didn’t just keep falling all day. Microsoft climbed 3.1% on Pershing news. Amazon lost 1.1%. Meta dropped 0.7%. Alphabet didn’t fall as hard as the Nasdaq but still ended lower. AI stocks kept selling off as traders waited to see the next move.
Yields moved markets. Higher bond yields cut the value of future profits, weighing on stocks tied to AI and cloud stories. The problem wasn’t Google Search. Rates, oil, and too many crowded trades drove the action.
Traders are still betting on higher rates. Polymarket shows a 32% chance that the Fed raises rates in 2026, and a 67% chance there are no rate cuts this year. Over at Kalshi, the market is at 39% for a Fed rate hike before 2027 under its “next Fed rate hike” contract. If the Fed hikes, the federal funds rate would go up and borrowing costs would rise in the U.S. Polymarket
Alphabet came in ahead of estimates for the first quarter, posting revenue up 22% at $109.9 billion. Google Cloud surged 63% to $20.0 billion. Net income was $62.6 billion, up 81%. CEO Sundar Pichai said 2026 is “off to a terrific start” and said demand for Search and Cloud remains strong. SEC
Alphabet is seeing costs jump. On the earnings call, the company bumped its 2026 capital spending target up to a range of $180 billion to $190 billion, and signaled 2027 will see even higher outlays. Capex covers things like data centers and chips. Management said AI compute demand is “unprecedented,” but flagged higher depreciation, more expensive energy, and rising data center costs as likely to pressure profit. Alphabet Investor Relations
Berkshire Hathaway ups Alphabet stake to more than $16.6 billion
Berkshire Hathaway revealed after the close it raised its stake in Alphabet to over $16.6 billion, putting the tech giant among its largest stock bets. The news lands as Bill Ackman’s exit from Google grabs headlines, but Berkshire’s latest buy signals big investors aren’t moving in lockstep. Reuters
Stocks could keep falling if oil holds up, yields rise, and AI names stay under pressure. But if rates flatten and Alphabet shows its AI bets pay off in cloud, ads, and subs, Friday’s dip might end up as plain profit-taking, not a shift in Google stock.
