Aslan Research · Cloud & platforms
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL)
Data as of 2026-09-03 · 27 quarters · filed in USD
Backlog stands at $519.5 billion, or 1.2x one year of revenue, giving the unrecognized work more scale than a headline growth rate alone. Revenue grew 18% per year while expenses grew 14% per year.
Earned, collected early, and merely signed
Reports $100B of debt; has promised $118B
Total committed obligations are 1.2x reported debt. Leases account for $18.0 billion of commitments beyond the debt balance.
What the promised total is made of, latest quarter
Spending, by reported line
When the promises come due
The next five years show a sharp timing gap: $222.9 billion comes due, while only $311 million of future revenue is promised for that period. That is a 716.1x difference between obligations due and revenue promised.
The rates that matter
Expenses as filed vs after cited reconciliation
8 patterns worth a second look
The most striking flag is the $42.6 billion Android fine reduction recorded as a third-quarter expense benefit, a non-recurring item within period results. The filings also changed purchase commitments from mainly supplier commitments to a broader scope covering supply, energy, and content agreements, while repeated diluted EPS revisions for 2020–2022 were substantive scale changes.
off balance sheet · 1
The filings report increasingly large future data-center lease commitments that had not yet commenced and were not recorded on the balance sheet, alongside exposure to unconsolidated data-center leasing entities.
one time dressing · 1
The FY2022 filing presents a $217 million reduction of the Android fine as a third-quarter expense benefit, a non-recurring item within period results.
redefinition · 1
The filings change the reported scope of purchase commitments from primarily supplier commitments to a broader set including supply, energy, and content agreements.
subsequent event · 3
The FY2024 filing reports an $8.0 billion unrealized gain recognized in January 2025 on a private-company investment, recontextualizing the period-end investment position.
The FY2025 filing reports a February 2026 Waymo investment round of $16.0 billion, with the significant majority funded by Alphabet.
The March 2026 filing reports that a private investment company's future capital funding could reach $30.0 billion and includes a $10.0 billion capital commitment.
value revision · 2
The repeated diluted EPS revisions for 2020–2022 are substantive scale changes rather than clerical edits.
The catalog shows substantive revisions to unrealized equity-security gains and losses for 2020–2022.