Alphabet, the company that owns Google, reported about $112 billion in profit for the second quarter of 2026 on July 22. But roughly $99 billion of that came from the rising value of its investments in two private companies: Anthropic and SpaceX (Fortune). That gain made up more than two-thirds of the quarter's total profit, according to the same source.

Alphabet shared the results on its investor relations website, posting an earnings release and slides ahead of a call with analysts at 1:30 PM US/Pacific on July 22 (Alphabet IR). The slides are also available on Alphabet's earnings page (Alphabet IR).

Here is the key thing to understand: Alphabet did not sell its shares in Anthropic or SpaceX. The $99 billion is what's called an unrealized gain. Think of it like owning a house that an appraiser says is now worth more than you paid for it. You haven't sold it. You haven't collected any cash. But on paper, you're richer.

Each quarter, companies that hold investments must estimate what those investments are worth right now and update their financial statements accordingly. That's called marking to market. The $99 billion reflects Alphabet's estimate that its Anthropic and SpaceX stakes have gone up in value.

Why does this matter? If you take away the $99 billion paper gain, Alphabet's remaining profit is about $13 billion. That smaller number comes from the company's actual businesses — advertising, cloud computing, and its other platforms. So the eye-catching headline number is mostly driven by accounting, not by the money Google's businesses earned.

There's a catch with those paper gains. Anthropic and SpaceX are private companies, meaning their shares don't trade on a stock exchange where prices update every day. Their valuations come from fundraising rounds and outside appraisals. So the $99 billion is only as reliable as those estimates.

A Reuters Breakingviews column published June 18, 2026 noted that Alphabet was an early investor in Elon Musk's space-to-AI ventures (Reuters Breakingviews). Titled "Galbraith's bezzle lurks beneath the AI frenzy," the piece discussed Alphabet's profits in connection with both OpenAI and Anthropic, framing them within a broader look at AI-company valuations. It was published about five weeks before the Q2 2026 earnings release.

The column borrowed an idea from economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who coined the term "the bezzle" for hidden losses that pile up during speculative bubbles — times when prices rise fast and people stop checking whether the numbers are real. The Breakingviews argument is that paper gains on private AI companies may not hold up once those companies face real market tests, such as fundraising at a lower valuation.

The concern worth flagging is what happens in the other direction. The same accounting rule that let Alphabet record a $99 billion gain this quarter would require it to record a loss if Anthropic or SpaceX are later judged to be worth less. A gain that big is not something a company can repeat every quarter. If the value drops, reported profit could fall just as sharply.

The $99 billion also doesn't give Alphabet cash to spend. It inflates the profit number on paper, which can make financial metrics like earnings per share look bigger. But it doesn't put money in the bank. Companies sometimes respond to this by selling some of their shares to turn paper value into real cash. Alphabet hasn't said whether it plans to do that.

The Q2 2026 results came out on July 22, 2026, with the earnings call held the same day. The full earnings release and slides are on Alphabet's investor relations website.