Alphabet's worst day in our records came on the quarter Google Cloud grew 103%

$GOOGL fell 12.64% on 29 October to close at $283.82, its worst daily drop in our price history, which starts in March 2025. It had closed at $324.89 the day before. The fall came the session after Alphabet reported a quarter in which Google Cloud grew 103%.

The previous worst day was 7.26%

Before Thursday, the largest one-day fall in our records was on 7 May 2025.

On our S&P 500 map, Alphabet's market value went from $3.97 trillion to $3.47 trillion, about $502 billion lost in one session. Our snapshot lists Alphabet under the class A ticker only, so that figure is the one shown on the $GOOGL tile. The drop moved Alphabet from third to fourth largest in the index. $MSFT, down 0.16% on the day, finished at $3.94 trillion.

What the quarter showed

Alphabet reported after the close on 28 October. According to CNBC, revenue was $127.58 billion and adjusted earnings were $2.67 a share, against the $3.02 analysts polled by LSEG expected. Cloud revenue more than doubled to $30.7 billion, ahead of the $28.7 billion analysts expected.

The rest of the report pointed the other way. Alphabet posted negative free cash flow of $9.07 billion for the quarter. Finance chief Anat Ashkenazi told analysts the company expects its capital spending "to increase significantly in 2027," with details to come on the fourth-quarter call.