AI puts Google back in charge

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Curse and Coffee friends,

Today, we explore how Larry beats Jeff.

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The take: Google dropped a new AI model. Investors threw $23 billion at the company in one day.

What happened: Alphabet unveiled Gemini 3 on 18 November. The stock jumped 3% to an all-time high of $304.25.

Why it matters: Larry Page made $7.6 billion in a single day. That was enough to jump past Jeff Bezos and become the world's third-richest person at $240 billion in net worth.

What to watch: Whether Gemini 3's "rave reviews" actually translate into money when Q4 earnings drop in January.

Google spent the last year watching OpenAI eat its lunch. Now they've got a model that competes. Wall Street is betting billions they're right.

We'll find out in January.

Warren Buffett bought $4.3 billion of this stock three weeks ago.

Before we slurp into today’s brew…

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Google needed a win. Gemini 3 delivered it before anyone had even tested it properly.

Within hours of the 18 November launch, Alphabet shares hit an all-time high of $304.25.

Larry Page's 3.2% stake jumped $7.6 billion overnight, vaulting him past Jeff Bezos in the wealth rankings.

The fuel?

Pure AI enthusiasm.

Analysts gave Gemini 3 "rave reviews" compared to OpenAI's underwhelming GPT-5, and investors piled in.

Here's the funny part: Page hasn't run Google since 2019.

He's just collecting checks from Sundar Pichai's bets. Show up to zero meetings, gain $7.6 billion in one day.

Not a bad gig.

Markets reward promises faster than proof. Always have.

A flashy AI model launch beats actual revenue every time, at least until earnings day forces everyone to check the receipts.

Warren Buffett helped, too.

His $4.3 billion Berkshire stake in Alphabet, revealed two weeks ago, gave institutional investors permission to join the party.

When Buffett buys, everyone else feels safer piling in.

So Google's back in the AI race. At least according to Wall Street.

We'll see if customers agree when Q4 earnings drop in January and the hype meets the balance sheet.

Pro: Gemini 3 plugs straight into Google Search. That's 2 billion users instantly. OpenAI has ChatGPT's website and some API customers. Google has the front door to the entire internet.

Con: The stock rallied on analyst hype and Warren Buffett's stamp of approval. Not on actual revenue from AI products. Not yet, anyway.

Our read: Google crushed the announcement. Larry Page made $7.6 billion before lunchtime. Analysts wrote glowing reviews. The stock hit an all-time high.

Now comes the hard part: proving the model actually makes money instead of just burning cash on compute costs.

SEC Filing: Berkshire Hathaway 13F-HR Q3 2025

Shows 17.8 million Alphabet shares purchased, making it Berkshire's 10th-largest holding; first major Google bet after Buffett admitted "missing" the stock was a mistake.

"Page gained $83.5 billion in 2025" — Bloomberg Billionaires Index

9to5Google: Alphabet Q3 Earnings — Why: Breaks down the $102.3B quarter and $155B Cloud backlog that convinced investors AI demand is real.

MIT Technology Review: Gemini 3 Features — Why: Explains "generative interfaces" and why the model can now code entire UIs from prompts.

TechCrunch: Google Antigravity — Why: Google's new agentic coding platform launched alongside Gemini 3; competes with Cursor and Warp.

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