The company’s revenue grew 14 per cent year-over-year to $96.4 billion, largely fueled by strong Google Cloud sales. The cloud division proved to be a major driver of growth, with revenue increasing 32 per cent from the previous year to $13.

Most leaders in the tech industry owe their wealth to founding equity stakes in their platforms, which Google’s Sundar Pichai does not have.

Alphabet Inc.'s $85B AI capex is backed by a $106B cloud backlog, showcasing tangible ROI. Click for my updated look at GOOGL stock post Q2 earnings.

Many of Pichai's recent sales were made under a regulatory filing which allows stock sales to be set up in advance by officers of publicly-listed companies to avoid any accusations of inside trading.

Alphabet is set to report its second-quarter earnings after the bell Wednesday. Wall Street expects the company to post double-digit revenue growth, according to LSEG estimates. Google made several AI announcements and talent plays during the quarter. Alphabet is set to report its second-quarter earnings after the bell Wednesday.

For the quarter, Google is expected to post adjusted earnings per share of $2.17 on revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs (TAC) of $79.6 billion, an 11.6% jump versus the same period last year when the company posted revenue of $71.3 billion, according to analyst consensus data from Bloomberg.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record high closes on Thursday as robust results from Google parent Alphabet fueled optimism about other heavyweight artificial intelligence stocks, while Tesla slumped after the electric vehicle maker's results disappointed investors.