Alphabet Should Be a Magnet for Activists... And Paying for ChatGPT

Source: Generative AI via Dall-e

In a normal situation, activists would be tripping over themselves to take stakes in Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL)...

Especially after the value of its stock plunged by around $100 billion in a single week, following its perceived missteps in the out-of-the-blue chatbot battle with fellow tech giant Microsoft (MSFT).

But like several other tech companies, Alphabet's shares are split into two classes – a structure that leaves founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page with voting control.

That means no matter what any activists might do or how much stock they buy, they can't force out management... or force other changes at the company.

Then again, maybe it doesn't matter...

After all, Alphabet recently took the axe to its bloated workforce... but only after London-based investment firm TCI Fund Management wrote two strongly worded letters encouraging the company to cut costs. (You can read them here and here.) And it did. While TCI's stake in Alphabet is valued at…