It Takes Meta Almost 9 Minutes to Make $1 Million in Profits. Google Does It in Under 4

By Rich Duprey Published May 7, 10:58AM EDT

Quick Read

Google (GOOG) reported Q1 FY2026 net income of $62.58 billion, driven partly by $36.91 billion in unrealized equity gains. Google’s operating income hit $39.70 billion on $109.90 billion revenue, yielding a 36.1% margin and beating EPS consensus by 94.10%. Google Cloud revenue surged 63% to $20.03 billion with backlog exceeding $460 billion, signaling strong enterprise AI demand.
Capital expenditures doubled to $35.67 billion while free cash flow fell 46.63% to $10.12 billion, reflecting aggressive AI infrastructure investment. GOOG gained 13.77% in the week after earnings and 26.01% year-to-date, outpacing Meta (down 8.41%) and Microsoft (down 2.47%).
Meta (META) generated $26.77 billion in Q1 net income, trailing Google’s profit-per-minute pace by more than double.

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It Takes Meta Almost 9 Minutes to Make $1 Million in Profits. Google Does It in Under 4 — © 24/7 Wall St.

The Number

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG | GOOG Price Prediction) reported Q1 FY2026 net income of $62.58 billion on April 29, 2026 via 8-K filing. That works out to roughly $1 million in profit every 3 minutes, 59 seconds. By contrast, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) generated $26.77 billion in Q1 net income, or $1 million every 8 minutes, 42 seconds. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) posted $31.78 billion for fiscal Q3, slotting between them at roughly 5 minutes, 10 seconds per million.

What It Means

Google’s reported bottom line grew 81.18% year over year, but the figure includes $36.91 billion in unrealized equity gains, a non-operating tailwind that inflates the headline. The underlying engine is still formidable: operating income of $39.70 billion on revenue of $109.90 billion, an operating margin of 36.1%. Google Cloud revenue jumped 63% to $20.03 billion, with backlog now over $460 billion. Search and other reached $60.40 billion, up 19%. EPS of $5.11 beat the $2.63 consensus by 94.10%.

The profit-per-minute comparison illustrates the gap between Big Tech’s cash machines. Google leads major US firms ahead of NVIDIA (4 minutes, 23 seconds), Microsoft, Apple (5 minutes, 36 seconds), Amazon (6 minutes, 46 seconds), Berkshire Hathaway (7 minutes, 51 seconds), JPMorgan Chase (8 minutes, 59 seconds), and Meta.

Market Reaction

Shares closed at $347.84 on the April 29 filing date and reached $395.14 by May 6, a 13.77% gain over that one-week window. Year to date through May 6, GOOG is up 26.01%. Meta moved the other way after its earnings, falling 8.41% over the same window to $612.88. Microsoft slipped 2.47% to $413.96.

Strategic Outlook

Capital expenditures more than doubled to $35.67 billion, up 107.44% year over year, while free cash flow contracted 46.63% to $10.12 billion. The capex surge funds AI infrastructure: CEO Sundar Pichai noted Gemini is processing more than 16 billion tokens per minute via direct API use, up 60% from last quarter. The dividend rose 5% to $0.22 per share. Polymarket traders price a 5% probability of GOOG hitting $400 by May 8 and a 91.5% probability of $410 by June 1, while assigning 70.6% odds that Alphabet ends 2026 as the world’s largest company by market cap.

Pichai framed the quarter directly: 23-29%

Bottom Line

The $62.58 billion figure flatters the trend with one-time equity gains, yet the operating profile (36.1% margins, 63% cloud growth, $460 billion backlog) supports Google’s profit-per-minute lead over Meta and Microsoft. Investors should track whether free cash flow stabilizes as the $35.67 billion quarterly capex runs into the cloud monetization curve. Reddit sentiment on r/wallstreetbets remained “2026 is off to a terrific start. Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business.” through May 7, anchored by a viral bullish (60-76) thread. The next catalysts are Polymarket’s near-term price expiries on May 8 and June 1, followed by Q2 FY2026 earnings.

About the Author Rich Duprey →

After two decades of patrolling the dark corners of suburbia as a police officer, Rich Duprey hung up his badge and gun to begin writing full time about stocks and investing. For the past 20 years he’s been cruising the markets looking for companies to lock up as long-term holdings in a portfolio while writing extensively on the broad sectors of consumer goods, technology, and industrials. Because his experience isn’t from the typical financial analyst track, Rich is able to break down complex topics into understandable and useful action points for the average investor. His writings have appeared on The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, Yahoo! Finance, and Money Morning. He has been featured in both U.S. and international publications, including MarketWatch, Financial Times, Forbes, Fast Company, and USA Today.