What happened
- Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia and Microsoft together recorded more than $160 billion in unrealized gains during the second quarter of 2026, stemming from the rising valuations of their stakes in other AI companies. The Financial Times reported it on August 30.
- The figure more than doubles the roughly $69 billion of the previous quarter.
- Alphabet booked $97.9 billion under other income in the quarter ended June 30, 2026, according to its own filing with the U.S. securities regulator. Amazon recorded $53.4 billion and Nvidia $7.7 billion.
- These are accounting gains, not cash. The rules require changes in fair value to be recognized in the income statement even when nothing is sold.
Why it matters
- Operating results get mixed up with portfolio results. When a majority of quarterly profit comes from revaluing stakes, the number that gets published stops describing the business the company says it has.
- The rule is symmetrical. What goes up with a new round or an IPO goes down with the next round, and in neither direction is money moving.
- For anyone buying advertising, software or cloud from these companies, the figure matters for what it hides. It’s harder to tell whether the price of the service is sustained by its own operations or by a cycle of cross-valuations among the same four companies, one of which has just kept its ad business after an antitrust ruling.
The number
$97.9 billion. Alphabet’s other income in a single quarter, more than double the previous one. It corresponds mainly to unrealized gains on stakes the company didn’t sell.
Context
The main driver of the quarter was SpaceX’s IPO in June 2026, at a market valuation of $1.77 trillion. Nvidia held about 123 million shares of that company as of June 30. Anthropic, meanwhile, reached a private valuation of about $965 billion. All four companies have stakes in OpenAI, in Anthropic or in both, so much of the figure reflects a small group of players revaluing each other. None of those balance sheets yet reflects the lawsuits open over the material they trained their models on.
What’s next
- OpenAI and Anthropic are preparing IPOs. No dates announced.
- Every new round and every IPO moves the reported results of the companies holding stakes, up or down.
- No changes announced to the accounting rules governing recognition of these gains.
Bottom line
In July, Alphabet reported the largest quarterly profit in its history and the stock fell about 7% that same day. The market is already discounting the difference between earning and booking.
This note describes public financial information and does not constitute investment advice.
Sources
- Financial Times — Big Tech profits get $160bn boost from gains on stakes in other AI companies (August 30, 2026)
- Alphabet Inc., Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 (SEC)
- Fortune — AI is forcing Big Tech to do something it’s never done
