Story perspectives

Magnificent Seven Post AI-Fueled Q1 Earnings, Massive Job Cuts

4/30/2026

Summary

Story summary

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft—all among the Magnificent Seven—released Q1 2026 results on the same day, highlighting AI-driven sector momentum.
Alphabet earned $5.11 per share and pledged $180-$190 billion for AI infrastructure, while Meta posted $56.31 billion revenue, lifted its capex target to $125-$145 billion and cut 8,000 jobs (10%).
Amazon reported $181.5 billion revenue, $2.78 earnings per share and eliminated about 30,000 corporate positions, roughly 10% of its workforce.

History

Historical Context

In 2019 Microsoft committed $1 billion to OpenAI, the first large corporate stake in the nascent AI race. OpenAI’s 2020 launch of GPT-3, a 175-billion-parameter model, spurred rivals—Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft—to announce AI-focused budgets of $125-$190 billion while trimming about 10% of staff. The wave marks a shift toward massive AI-driven competition.

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Story summary

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft—all among the Magnificent Seven—released Q1 2026 results on the same day, highlighting AI-driven sector momentum.
Alphabet earned $5.11 per share and pledged $180-$190 billion for AI infrastructure, while Meta posted $56.31 billion revenue, lifted its capex target to $125-$145 billion and cut 8,000 jobs (10%).
Amazon reported $181.5 billion revenue, $2.78 earnings per share and eliminated about 30,000 corporate positions, roughly 10% of its workforce.

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