Is Google’s Search Empire Cracking? The AI Disruption Threatening Alphabet’s Profitability!

Mark Lagarde
Tue, 04 Feb 2025 15:59:11 +0000
Investor Briefing, ticker, Alphabet, Bing, ChatGPT, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI

Google has long maintained a dominant position in the search engine market, commanding a global market share exceeding 90% as of 2022. However, recent developments indicate a potential shift in this landscape, primarily due to the emergence of AI-driven search engines. Notably, Google‘s global search engine market share fell below 90% in Q4 2024, marking the first time since 2015 that it has dipped under this threshold.

The rise of AI-powered platforms, such as OpenAI‘s ChatGPT, has introduced new dynamics into the search ecosystem. These platforms offer users conversational and contextually relevant responses, differing from traditional search result listings. Microsoft‘s integration of ChatGPT into its Bing search engine exemplifies this trend. Following this integration, Bing experienced an eightfold increase in global app downloads, while downloads for the Google search app declined by 2% during the same period.

Despite these developments, Bing‘s market share remains relatively modest. Reports indicate that even after incorporating ChatGPT, Bing‘s market share increased by only 0.1%, with Google still dominating at 91%.

For Google, these trends present both challenges and opportunities. The company has been investing heavily in AI to enhance its search capabilities. In May 2023, Google unveiled the Search Generative Experience (SGE), an experimental feature that produces AI-generated summaries in response to search prompts. This initiative reflects Google‘s strategy to integrate AI into its services to maintain its competitive edge.

Financially, Alphabet Inc. (Google‘s parent company) continues to demonstrate resilience. As of February 4, 2025, Alphabet‘s stock price stood at $205.37, reflecting a slight increase from the previous close. Analysts project that Alphabet will report Q4 earnings of $2.13 per share on revenues of $96.7 billion, up from $1.64 per share on $86.3 billion in the same period last year.

In conclusion, while AI-driven search engines are gaining traction and prompting shifts in user behavior, Google‘s substantial investments in AI and its established market presence position it to adapt to these changes. The integration of AI into search is likely to redefine user expectations and industry standards, suggesting that the future of search engines will be increasingly intertwined with advanced AI capabilities.