Behind the Markets Podcast · Friday, October 30, 2026
Michael Friedman and Sam Rines discussed Alphabet's difficulties regarding its search ad business and AI monetization. Friedman highlighted that Google reported consecutive quarters of negative cash flow and struggled to mitigate the cannibalizing effects of AI bots on traditional search ads.
“What happened is exactly what people were concerned after last quarter historical print, is what's going on with search and starts just slowing down, Management gave you the explanation about AI mode monetization is not going as fast as it seems it will be.”
“You have like a second quarter in a row with a negative cash flow. That hasn't happened throughout, I think, their time being public company.”