Alphabet joins Dow Jones amid talent crisis: AI talents leaving Google
Starting June 29, 2026, Alphabet (GOOGL) will officially replace Verizon Communications in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index. This is a landmark event for the stock market, but it comes at a difficult time for the company. Verizon, whose share in the index was only 0.5% due to its low stock price, is giving way to the tech giant, which will significantly increase Alphabet's weight in this prestigious benchmark.
Double blow to market cap: minus $250 billion in a single session
However, the news of inclusion in the Dow Jones did not save Alphabet's stock from a sharp decline. On June 23, the company's shares plunged by 6% — its worst trading day in nearly a year and the steepest drop since February. In a single session, Alphabet's market capitalization shrank by nearly $250 billion. The reason for this aggressive sell-off lies not in market conditions, but in a personnel crisis within its artificial intelligence division.
Within just a few days, the company lost two key figures in AI. On June 18, Noam Shazeer — co-author of the groundbreaking 2017 paper "Attention Is All You Need" and one of the leaders of the Gemini project — announced his move to OpenAI. Recall that less than two years ago, Google paid about $2.7 billion to bring Shazeer back from Character.AI. And on June 20, it was revealed that 2024 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry John Jumper, creator of AlphaFold, is leaving Google DeepMind after nearly nine years of work to join Anthropic.
Symbolism of change: Dow Jones loses its last link to telecom
S&P Dow Jones Indices explained the replacement by Alphabet's strong positions in technology, digital advertising, cloud services, and, most importantly, artificial intelligence. With Verizon's departure, the Dow Jones index finally loses its representative from the telecommunications sector and becomes even more tied to the AI economy. Earlier, in 2024, Amazon joined the index, while Apple and Microsoft were already members. Now Alphabet has joined them.
Inclusion in the Dow Jones is undoubtedly a recognition of Alphabet's scale and influence. But by June 29, the company approaches this milestone with a serious personnel crisis that cannot be solved simply by being present in prestigious rankings. The exodus of top minds to OpenAI and Anthropic signals that even multi-billion dollar salaries do not guarantee the loyalty of the best talents in the race for AI dominance. The market has already assessed this — and its verdict was harsh.