Google quarterly cloud revenue growth beats expectations

Alphabet's Google Cloud revenue surged 82 percent year-on-year to 24.8 billion dollars in the June quarter, well ahead of the 64 percent growth expected by analysts and accelerating from 63 percent in the prior quarter. Strong demand for cloud capacity to power AI workloads drove major deals, including with Anthropic, easing investor concerns over the company's heavy AI capex. However, delayed launches of flagship Gemini models, high-profile executive exits and regulatory pressures have pulled Alphabet shares about 9 percent lower since end-April, even as the stock remains up nearly 11 percent year-to-date.