Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta and Oracle Expect a Negative Cash Flow of $125 Billion Next Year (washingtonpost.com)
- Reference: 0184899830
- News link: https://developers.slashdot.org/story/26/08/08/1727226/microsoft-google-amazon-meta-and-oracle-expect-a-negative-cash-flow-of-125-billion-next-year
- Source link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/08/03/one-chart-shows-incredible-reversal-american-tech-companies/
Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta and Oracle "are spending so much on developing AI and delivering it to customers that they're expected to bleed cash in the coming year, according to a Washington Post analysis of data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence."
> Free cash flow, which measures the cash left over after paying expenses and AI infrastructure costs, is now expected to shrink to almost nothing for the five companies combined in 2026, and decline again to negative $125 billion the following year... AI spending by Amazon and Google pushed the companies to an ignominious milestone: They lost more cash in the past three months than any other large U.S. companies, according to S&P Global data. Investment analysts expect Elon Musk's SpaceX to show even worse [2]cash bleeding this week .
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/08/03/one-chart-shows-incredible-reversal-american-tech-companies/
[2] https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/04/spacex-ai-spending-unnerves-wall-street-despite-promising-quick-payoff.html
Is this fine, really? (Score:3)
When most of the jobs they removed due to using AI instead need to be rehired for because unsubsidised AI usages is more expensive I'm sure it'll all work out.
They will ask later, "but were there any signs of a bubble?" - for those that are busy with stocks that are "going to the moon" and riding the new paradigm I'm sure this is perfectly sustainable.
I, personally, use AI with great results that deliver actual commercial benefit for me...however there are 1000 people for every one person like me that manage to just spend and achieve mediocre or worse results and I say this to ask one question: If all this AI is really so great, so effective and so needed why then must it be subsidised?
Re:Is this fine, really? (Score:4, Funny)
Phew thanks for reassuring us that you're a very special, one in a thousand person, and that you're objectively using this stuff correctly, We needed that reinforcement.
Pass the popcorn (Score:2)
That was the best/only joke Slashdot can come up with these years? Sadness.
I was hoping to see something about AI-powered FinTech counter-wagers to protect each other. Sort of a corporate cancer circle jerk.
Oh how about a grand scheme to get the money back based on wagers by human suckers as to which AI will win the race? They could let Microsoft hold the pot since they apparently got left out of the race. My money would be on Oracle for most secretive and ruthless and evil and therefore the most likely win
Re: (Score:2)
My bad. I forgot that Microsoft had been mentioned. More evidence of senility? Or I just can't take Microsoft seriously based on my experiments and experiences with Copilot? So let IBM hold the pot for old times sake?
Re: Is this fine, really? (Score:1)
Oracle borrowed something like $600 billion to fund AI projects.
Their biggest customer here is OpenAI to the tune of around $300 billion, a customer that is expected to make a loss of around €14 billion this year.
Probably fine?
Re: (Score:2)
Actually I like that it's rendered like this. It's a great way to spot Windows users.
Re: (Score:3)
Or, more likely, if they went tits up their "property" (our personal data) would be bought up by people who are even worse.
Re:Wouldn't it be stellar? (Score:5, Insightful)
> Or, more likely, if they went tits up their "property" (our personal data) would be bought up by people who are even worse.
Worse than Oracle? Oh my!
"surprising" (Score:2)
Only to people who have no knowledge of the dot com boom.
Re: "surprising" (Score:2)
History teaches us that people do not learn from history and keep making the same mistakes...
Woudn't be surprised if it all comes crashing down (Score:5, Insightful)
Where is the prudent restraint?
What we have here are business chasing other business over the same AI stuff. That's a positive feedback loop which at some point is going to become unstable and crash.
Will these companies survive that? Maybe some, but not all of them.
Will the investing public get hurt? Very likely.
Re: Woudn't be surprised if it all comes crashing (Score:3)
I don't think this will kill Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon or Oracle. Their worwr case is having to dump their AI programs, take a stock hit, and issue some bonds. They all have enough revenue for the foreseeable future that they won't bankrupt.
Re: (Score:3)
Oracle may not, they are way over leveraged. Ellison caught FOMO disease. The Fed. Gov. cutting them a deal with the Department of DEFENSE was throwing them a fish to help them get by a disaster, but it's still peanuts compared to what Ellison sunk into the craze. And their reputed expected winnings are from AI companies, just the companies that will take it in the neck if China AI steals their markets.
Re: (Score:2)
> Where is the prudent restraint?
> What we have here are business chasing other business over the same AI stuff. That's a positive feedback loop which at some point is going to become unstable and crash.
It's another bubble. The size of this bubble is pretty impressive. When it pops, much shit shall hit the fan.
I have thought for some years now that AI is inevitable, but just like the dot-com bubble, and the subprime loan bubble, the present paradigm isn't sustainable, and companies are acing toward data centers that require restarting ancient nuc reactors, and making a hella mess out of groundwater.
One of the telling tremors is Texas, which has so many data centers planned, they cannot provide enough
Re: Woudn't be surprised if it all comes crashing (Score:2)
AI definitely has some value and income.
Not as much as it's being hyped as, but significant. Anthropic for example will get nearly 50 billion in revenue this year.
And the value of people using AI smartly is definitely not zero. We're in the late 90s internet part of this. In 10 years there will be AI that we take for granted making some companies billions and a lot of failed companies. There's no reason to think otherwise.
It's also not going to replace lawyers and doctors, it will be part of how they do the
Re: Woudn't be surprised if it all comes crashing (Score:2)
I remember a discussion about this when Facebook went to the stock market. Shares sold good, but no one knew how they were going to make money. I also think it is all inflated, but it is not all hot air. I see less and less people using Google and more and more people using chatgpt to search the web.
I am one of them. Was repairing a water pump and needed an adapter. Local shop was clueless. Described what I needed to gpt. It searched around and found the perfect piece in a webshop. Would have taken me a
Re: Woudn't be surprised if it all comes crashing (Score:2)
They're paying each other. Google is renting out processing while also renting processing elsewhere. Selling hardware and then renting the same hardware back for their own use. It may make sense on some level (more than it sounds at first glance), but it's very circular. What does this mean? It means we can't look at a single company's finances. We have to look at the industry as a whole, because a lot of those balance sheet items cancel each other out.
Re: Woudn't be surprised if it all comes crashing (Score:2)
I'm sure there's an element of tax avoidance here. Elaborate commercial arrangements like this often do.