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April 16, 2025

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Is the Google stock at risk as Elon Musk’s Grok growth continues?

4 Mins Read

Google stock price has crashed by over 23% from its highest point this year, moving into a bear market. Alphabet has dropped to $158, mirroring the performance of other American technology companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and NVIDIA, which have dropped by double digits. This article explains why core business is facing major headwinds.

AI companies like ChatGPT and Grok are a big risk

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, YouTube, and Android, has long dominated key industries. Its search engine is a near monopoly, with Bing and DuckDuckGo coming a distance behind. 

YouTube is the most popular video platform, while Android is used by billions of people globally. Alphabet also has a large market share in the cloud industry, where it competes with the likes of Amazon and Microsoft. 

Google Search is its most important service, accounting for billions of dollars in sales annually. It makes its money by selling advertising space on most search queries, providing a win-win situation. 

Many companies have attempted to take Google’s market share in the search engine in the past with limited success. Microsoft’s Bing service remains an inferior product with little traction among users.

Recently, however, there have been increased signs that AI chatbots could be a threat to Google in the longer term. While ChatGPT is the biggest player in the industry, the biggest risk comes from Elon Musk’s Grok.

Grok has become one of the fastest players in the AI industry, with its website having over 190 million users in March, a 269% increase from the previous month. 

This growth could accelerate because Grok seems like a better platform than ChatGPT or even Google Gemini, especially on real-time data. 

Either way, the growth of Grok, ChatGPT, Claude, and DeepSeek means that Google now has a real competitor that may affect its business trajectory.

However, the full disruption of Google Search will take a long time. During this time, it will continue growing its business because of its large market share in the search engine industry. 

Read more: Google stock price forecast: Elon Musk’s Grok is a top threat

Alphabet’s business is still growing

In the meantime, Alphabet’s business is still growing, helped by the diversity of its solutions. 

The most recent numbers showed that Alphabet made over $96 billion in the fourth quarter, a 12% increase from the same period a year earlier. This growth brought its annual revenue to $350 billion, up from $307 billion a year earlier. 

Google is also one of the most profitable companies as its net income surged to over $100 billion. This figure will likely keep growing as some of Alphabet’s top businesses are hard to disrupt.

Google is also aiming to be a big player in other industries, especially the cybersecurity sector. It recently announced a giant deal to acquire Wiz in a $32 billion. That was a notable transaction considering that it turned it away in 2024 when it considered a $20 billion buyout.

Analysts believe that Google stock is highly undervalued. The average estimate for the stock is $207, higher than the current $158. Google also has a price-to-earnings ratio of just 18, much lower than other companies.

Google stock price analysis

GOOG chart by TradingView

The daily chart shows that the Alphabet share price has been in a strong bearish trend in the past few months. It formed a double-top-like pattern at $192, and its neckline was at $148. 

Google has also formed a death cross as the 200-day and 50-day moving averages cross each other. A death cross is one of the most bearish signs in the market. 

The stock has also dropped below the Ichimoku cloud indicator. Therefore, the stock will likely continue falling as sellers initially target this month’s low of $142.9. 

A drop below that level will point to further downside, potentially to $130, its lowest point in March last year. A move above the 200-day moving average at $171 will invalidate the bearish view.

The post Is the Google stock at risk as Elon Musk’s Grok growth continues? appeared first on Invezz

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In Business

Cash App owner Block pays $40 million in settlement over ‘serious compliance deficiencies’

3 Mins Read

New York state’s top financial regulator struck a $40 million settlement Thursday with Block Inc., the parent of Cash App, the popular money transmission service, after having found the company had “serious compliance deficiencies” related to its anti-money laundering program and transaction monitoring processes.

The deficiencies at Block, some involving cryptocurrencies, “created a high-risk environment vulnerable to exploitation by criminal actors,” the New York State Department of Financial Services said in the consent order, noting, for example, that Block’s system did not trigger blocks on bitcoin transactions involving terrorism-connected wallets until that exposure exceeded 10%.

Any exposure to terrorism-connected wallets is illegal, the department said. 

The New York regulator examined Block’s practices from early 2021 to September 2022, concluding it did not keep pace with the significant growth it was experiencing. That resulted in Block’s “inability to fully comply with its obligation to effectively monitor, and thereafter report, the transactions being conducted on its platforms for suspected money laundering and other illicit criminal activity.”

Block, which did not admit to the department’s findings, said it was pleased to put the matter behind it.

“As the department has acknowledged, Cash App has devoted significant financial and other resources to compliance remediation and enhancements,” it said in a statement. “We share the department’s dedication to addressing industry challenges and remain committed to investing across our operations to help promote a safe and healthy financial system.” 

Block was launched by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who lists his current title as Block Head and chairman.

The details in the settlement parallel exclusive reporting by NBC News last year detailing former Block employees’ allegations that the company’s compliance systems were deeply flawed.

According to the former employees, one of whom was also interviewed by federal prosecutors, Block processed multiple cryptocurrency transactions for terrorist groups and did not correct company processes when it was alerted to breaches. Block began offering bitcoin transactions through Cash App in 2018.

Square, another Block unit, processed thousands of transactions involving countries subject to economic sanctions, one of the former employees told NBC News. Documents the former employee provided showed transactions, many in small dollar amounts, involving entities in countries subject to U.S. sanctions restrictions — Cuba, Iran, Russia and Venezuela — as recently as 2023.  

Under the terms of the settlement, Block agreed to bring on an independent monitor for a year, selected by the New York regulator, to conduct a comprehensive review of the effectiveness of its anti-money laundering and sanctions programs. The monitor will oversee remedial measures as needed, the consent order said, and report its findings to the regulators.

The consent order with the department “does not bind any federal or other state agency or any law enforcement authority,” it noted.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

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In Politics

Pentagon deputy chief of staff is second Hegseth advisor removed amid DOD leak probe

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The Defense Department’s (DOD) deputy chief of staff was placed on administrative leave on Tuesday, following the steps of another Pentagon official earlier in the day.

Darin Selnick, the deputy chief of staff for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has been removed, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News.

Selnick is under investigation for the same leak probe that saw Hegseth aide Dan Caldwell escorted out of the Pentagon by security. Both Selnick and Caldwell are on administrative leave.

According to the Pentagon’s website, Selnick is a retired Air Force officer who has worked extensively in veterans’ affairs organizations.

‘Mr. Selnick leverages his extensive government and non-government experience advocating for veterans to position Service members for productive post-separation lives from the first day they put on a uniform,’ the biography states.

Both Selnick and Caldwell worked for Concerned Veterans for America in the past, a group formerly led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Reuters reported that Caldwell was placed on leave for an ‘unauthorized disclosure,’ as part of an investigation into leaked Pentagon documents.

The probe was announced last month, and concerned itself over ‘recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information.’ 

‘The use of polygraphs in the execution of this investigation will be in accordance with applicable law and policy,’ DOD Chief of Staff Joe Kasper wrote in a memo at the time. ‘This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense.’

An official told Politico that the leak concerned Panama Canal plans and Elon Musk’s visit to the Pentagon, among other matters.

More information about the leak is unknown, and there is currently no evidence to connect Caldwell or Selnick to that leak.

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

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