🚀 Google's AI reshuffle

Market Overview
Read time 1.4 minutes

Year To Date Performances:

1. Google announced a major executive reshuffle across its artificial intelligence divisions, sending Alphabet shares down about 4% despite strong second-quarter cloud growth driven by AI infrastructure demand. Under the leadership shake-up, 27-year company veteran and Chief Scientist Jeff Dean is departing alongside senior fellow Sanjay Ghemawat to launch a Google-backed public benefit startup named Discovery Loop, which focuses on accelerating scientific and engineering discoveries using AI. Simultaneously, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis is transitioning to Chair of DeepMind and Chief Scientist of parent company Alphabet to focus on overarching strategic initiatives, handing day-to-day operational control of the unit and the development of Gemini 4 to DeepMind CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu, who will report directly to CEO Sundar Pichai. The organizational changes arrive as Google navigates intense competition from rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic, projected full-year capital expenditures of up to $205 billion USD, and sustained supply constraints surrounding its proprietary tensor processing units (TPUs).

2. SpaceX spent $295 million on Tesla Megapack battery energy storage systems during the second quarter of 2026, bringing its first-half total to $329 million as it builds out power infrastructure for its SpaceXAI Colossus data center complex in Greater Memphis. The battery installations are designed to help power massive AI workloads and prevent blackouts alongside dozens of natural gas turbines, which have drawn local outrage and a federal lawsuit from the NAACP over unpermitted air and noise pollution. On SpaceX's Q2 earnings call, CEO Elon Musk announced aggressive expansion targets for its AI power plant capacity, aiming to bring between 15 and 20 gigawatts of power and cooling online by the end of 2027. The purchases underscore the extensive related-party transactions between Musk’s ventures, following $506 million in Megapack purchases and $131 million in Cybertruck acquisitions by SpaceX from Tesla in 2025.

3. E.l.f. Beauty reported a near 100% surge in fiscal first-quarter net income to $66.6 million USD ($1.12 per share), fueled by a one-time windfall of approximately $50 million USD in government tariff refunds following a Supreme Court ruling that struck down certain duties. Net sales for the quarter ending June 30 rose 36% year-over-year to $479.4 million USD—beating Wall Street estimates of $430 million USD—while adjusted earnings per share reached $1.75 USD, well ahead of the $0.71 USD expected. CEO Tarang Amin noted that the tariff refunds boosted gross margin by 14 percentage points, providing capital the company plans to reinvest into marketing and targeted price reductions on about 10% of its assortment to stimulate unit volume among price-sensitive consumers. Buoyed by top-line momentum and underlying margin expansion, E.l.f. raised its full-year fiscal 2027 revenue guidance to between $1.94 billion USD and $1.97 billion USD and adjusted earnings per share outlook to between $3.50 USD and $3.55 USD, while cautioning investors that the tariff refund's impact on profitability represents a non-recurring event.

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