Google’s week has been a study in contrasts: a fresh land deal in the American West on one coast of its business, and two separate legal headaches on the other. The Alphabet unit confirmed Friday that it has taken over Crusoe’s data-center site in southeastern Wyoming, according to Reuters — a purchase that dovetails with the $17 billion investment in its first Wyoming data center that the company announced a day earlier. The buildout is framed as a long-term commitment; the site acquisition, by contrast, is already a done deal.
A Courtroom Setback in Ad-Tech
The legal news came first. On Friday, Google failed in its bid to pause private US antitrust litigation over digital advertising technology while it appeals a loss in a separate case led by the US Department of Justice. The two matters are distinct proceedings, and the private suits will now proceed on their own track.
A second legal question concerns how Google’s Gemini AI chatbot reuses news content. On November 3, Maciej Szpunar, advocate general at the European Court of Justice, said Gemini could, under certain circumstances, infringe publishers’ copyright protections. His opinion is non-binding and not a final ruling, and it addresses specific usage scenarios rather than passing judgment on Gemini applications as a whole.
Cloud Revenue Doubles as Capex Climbs
The financial backdrop to all this is a business growing briskly and spending just as fast. Alphabet reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $127.6 billion on October 28, up 25% year over year. Google Cloud contributed $30.7 billion, more than doubling from a year earlier — a 103% jump, per the company’s mandatory disclosure.
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Capital expenditures for the quarter reached $51.4 billion. Management left its full-year 2026 guidance unchanged at $195 billion to $205 billion and signaled that outlays will rise substantially next year.
Buyouts Go Global
Alongside the infrastructure push, Google is reshaping its workforce. Reuters reported Wednesday that the company has extended voluntary buyout offers to Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland. Google said the programs began in June; how many employees have accepted the packages could not be determined.
Investors took the news in stride. The Alphabet share was up 0.7% on the day at €258.85.
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