Alphabet Posts $8.7 Billion Equity Investment Loss in Third Quarter

Alphabet posted an $8.7 billion net loss on equity investments in the third quarter, reversing a $99 billion gain in the second, while its largest disclosed holding, SpaceX, declined in reported value.

Alphabet held 555,043,560 SpaceX Class A shares valued at $83.73 billion on Sept. 30. At June 30, it held 551,189,500 shares valued at $94.18 billion. Its share count rose by 3,854,060 during the quarter, but the holding’s reported value fell about $10.4 billion.

The quarter-end valuations work out to about $151 per share in September, down from about $171 in June. The decline in the holding’s value does not represent a sale of that amount: Alphabet ended the quarter with more SpaceX shares.

SpaceX made up 94.8% of the $88.35 billion in holdings listed in Alphabet’s third-quarter Form 13F, filed Nov. 6. Qualcomm was a newly disclosed holding, with 2.977 million shares valued at about $550 million.

Alphabet’s $8.7 billion net loss applies to its equity investments, while the roughly $10.4 billion decline compares the reported value of one holding at two quarter-ends. The company’s second-quarter investment gain included SpaceX and Anthropic. The third-quarter result should not be treated as a loss attributable solely to SpaceX.

The Form 13F shows Alphabet’s position as of Sept. 30. Changes after that date would appear in a later holdings disclosure.