Google Gets Its Bag

Google Gets Its Bag

From Slate Money by Slate Podcasts

May 2, 2026 · 45 min

About this episode

The episode discusses Google's impressive earnings report, skepticism about future growth, and various corporate topics including Bill Ackman's ventures and company retreats.

This week: Google’s parent company Alphabet announced an incredible $110 billion in first-quarter revenue thanks, in part, to the computing needs of the AI boom.   Felix Salmon , Elizabeth Spiers , and Emily Peck , discuss the shocking earnings report and the reasons to doubt it as a sign of future growth, including the internet’s ever-evolving information economy. Then, they get into Bill Ackman once again trying and failing to make a closed-end fund happen, and why he’ll never be Warren Buffet. Finally they’ll examine the utility of corporate merch, such as Palantir’s french chore coat , and company retreats, like the Plex’s disastrous Survivor -themed getaway .  In the Slate Plus episode: Can you have a Tiktok and a job on Wall Street? Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify . Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli and Cheyna Roth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for…

People in this episode

Hosts: Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, Emily Peck

Topics covered

  • Google earnings
  • AI boom
  • Bill Ackman
  • corporate merchandise
  • company retreats

Keywords

  • Google
  • Alphabet
  • earnings report
  • AI
  • Bill Ackman
  • corporate merch
  • company retreats

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Google, Alphabet, Palantir

Places: Wall Street

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