Google shares slide 9% after profit drop and $8.7 billion investment loss

Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, saw shares plunge about 9% to $295.20 after reporting third-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street forecasts, driven by an $8.7 billion loss on equity investments. Net income fell to $26.17 billion from $34.98 billion a year earlier, while revenue rose 25% to $127.58 billion, slightly below analyst expectations of $127.97 billion. Earnings per share were $2.12, versus forecasts around $3.01. CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted a "half-trillion-dollar revenue run rate" and said the Gemini AI assistant reached one billion users, calling it Google's fastest-growing product ever.