Alphabet bought back zero stock for two quarters; $200 billion of capex and Anthropic take the cash

Two quarters of zero on the buyback line

Alphabet▲+0.96% — Alphabet, up 0.96 percent today reports third-quarter results after the close tonight, and the line that explains the stock sits near the bottom of the cash-flow statement. Share repurchases have read zero for two straight quarters, the first pause since 2017↗ ¹². That ends a streak that returned roughly $300 billion to shareholders over five years, more than any of the other hyperscalers, as the giant cloud-and-compute operators are known; among Alphabet, Microsoft▼−0.74% — Microsoft, down 0.74 percent today and Amazon▼−0.17% — Amazon, down 0.17 percent today, only Microsoft repurchased stock in the recent period ³.

Where the money goes instead

The first half of 2026 absorbed $56 billion of acquisitions and nonmarketable securities, primarily AnthropicPVT$350B — Anthropic, private, latest valuation $350B shares ¹². Full-year capital spending is guided to about $200 billion, roughly $120 billion of it still to come, a plan The Inference covered on October 25; the paused buyback is the new turn ².

In the June quarter, capex of $44.9 billion overtook operating cash flow of $39.1 billion↗ ⁴, a $5.9 billion shortfall and the first negative free-cash-flow quarter since Alphabet went public in 2004 ⁵. The bridge is $77 billion of debt added over nine months, plus $30 billion of share sales and $19 billion of mandatory convertible preferred, preferred shares that must convert into common stock ².

The return leg runs through Anthropic

The bull case is not hand-waving. Google Cloud grew 82% to $24.8 billion last quarter↗ at a 35.6% operating margin, on a $514 billion backlog that management expects to turn half into revenue within 24 months ⁵. Tonight's consensus calls for cloud revenue up about 90% to $29 billion, with segment operating income near $10 billion, up 171% ¹².

Much of the return now routes through Anthropic, the AI lab whose IPO is set for mid-November. Anthropic owes Google Cloud $114.5 billion through 2033↗ under one TPU agreement, the Tensor Processing Unit being Google's own AI chip, and has a second cloud deal worth $125 billion to $150 billion from 2028, on which Google may not be the sole service provider ².

Broadcom▲+1.53% — Broadcom, up 1.53 percent today, which co-designs the chips, is charging Anthropic $161 billion to rent them ². Alphabet stays a greater-than-5% shareholder after the IPO and holds an option for $10 billion more stock at the offering price ²⁶.

Meta sells new stock; Alphabet mostly borrows

Meta▼−1.09% — Meta, down 1.09 percent today burned $2.12 billion of cash last quarter, its first negative free-cash-flow quarter in over a decade, and this week it raised its largest-ever equity offerings to a record $97.5 billion↗, with a separate at-the-market program, which sells shares into the market over time, for up to $60 billion more ⁷. Alphabet is selling stock too, but its buildout is funded mainly with debt ².

Chief financial officer Anat Ashkenazi has said 2027 spending will "increase significantly" ². Three lines decide tonight: whether the repurchase figure stays at zero, whether cloud clears $29 billion, and any word on the $10 billion Anthropic option ⁶.