Google Just Had Its Best Quarter Ever. If You Hold the Stock, Read This

In Jurassic Park, the scientists didn’t fail because they lacked intelligence.

They solved every problem in front of them. The system worked exactly as designed.

And then the problem showed up all at once.

 

Not because they built it wrong.

Because they never stopped to think about what happens after it works.

 

*Google just reported its strongest quarter ever - 22% revenue growth,

Search queries at an all-time high, Google Cloud up 63%.

The headline numbers look extraordinary.

But buried in the fine print:

$36.9 billion in unrealized investment gains ran through the income statement.

After taxes, that added $28.7 billion to net income.

Nearly half the quarter's profit.

From a paper gain.

Not from search. Not from cloud. Not from anything they built or sold.

When Anthropic raised its latest funding round at a higher valuation, accounting rules required Alphabet to mark up the value of their ownership stake. That price change flows straight through the income statement as a "gain."

No cash changed hands. Nothing was sold. The number could look very different next quarter.

It's profit on paper. Not profit in the bank.

*As of Alphabet's earnings release (April 29, 2026).  

 

The stock is working. Beautifully. Which is exactly when the sequence decision matters most,  not when things look uncertain, but when everything looks right.

 

Quick Summary

Holding Google stock isn’t the issue. Letting it grow without a plan is.

What matters most:

• Understanding how much of your position is taxable

• Deciding how you want to handle that tax bill

• Building a system before the position forces one

The core risk:

Doing nothing feels safe, but quietly builds a larger, more concentrated tax problem over time.

How to approach it:

• Understand the exposure

• Decide how you want to handle the tax

• Build a system before it forces one

 

The stock isn’t the plan. The sequence is.

You don’t avoid taxes by waiting. You choose when and how you deal with them.

 

If you work at Google, chances are a meaningful portion of your net worth is tied to one company.

That didn’t happen by accident.

RSUs vest. You hold. The company performs. The position grows.

On paper, everything looks right.

But underneath, something else is building:

A large, deferred tax decision.

 

Here’s what I see consistently:

Someone accumulates Google stock over years.

The cost basis is very low. The gains are significant.

Selling feels expensive. So they wait.

Not because they’re doing something wrong.

Because they haven’t decided how they want to deal with it yet.

The issue isn’t the stock. It’s the order of decisions.

 

Holding first and thinking later works... until it doesn’t.

Because while you’re waiting:

• The position grows
• The concentration increases
• The tax liability compounds

 

What started as a good decision slowly becomes a harder one to unwind.

Let’s make it concrete:

You have ~$1.1M in Google stock.

Your average cost basis is ~$340K.

That’s roughly $800K in gains.

If you sell today, maybe that’s ~$160K in taxes.

Manageable. Not small, but controlled.

 

Now fast forward ten years.

Same stock. Same position. Just time.

At ~7% growth, that $1.1M becomes ~$2.2M.

Your cost basis hasn’t changed.

Now your gain is closer to $1.9M.

Your tax bill? Closer to $380K.

 

Nothing about the stock changed.

Only the sequence did.

The outcome did.

 

Waiting didn’t eliminate the problem.

It scaled it.

 

So what are you actually deciding?

Not whether to sell.

You’re deciding:

Do I want to deal with this gradually…

or all at once later?

 

Here’s where most people get stuck.

They assume the options are:

• Sell everything

• Or sell nothing

Neither is necessary.

 

The middle path is where this gets solved.

Instead of one large decision later, you make smaller ones over time.

 

Sell 3–5% per year.

Reinvest it. Use it. Diversify it.

 

You’re not exiting Google.

You’re converting it slowly-  into flexibility.

 

Now the part that actually matters.

Not all shares are the same.

Some have small gains.

Some have very large gains.

Selling them produces very different tax outcomes.

 

So the question isn’t just how much to sell.

It’s: which shares do we sell first?

The sequence matters here too.

Start with the shares that have the smallest gains.

Work toward the ones with the largest.

Not to avoid taxes.

But to control how much you realize, and when.

 

That gives you room to adjust:

• If the market drops

• If your income changes

• If you don’t need to sell later

 

The most expensive decisions stay optional.

 

One thing I want to make clear.

There is a version where doing nothing works.

If you never sell, and the position passes to your family, the tax bill can disappear entirely.

That’s real.

But it only works if that’s actually the plan.

Not as a default.

 

Done right, this becomes a system.

Not a one-time decision.

 

Each year:

• You take a small amount out

• You decide which shares to use

• You adjust based on what’s changed

 

Over time:

• The concentration decreases

• The tax burden becomes manageable

• And the decisions get easier

 

So here’s where I’ll leave you.

Before you decide what to do with your Google stock or before you keep doing nothing...

 

Ask one question:

Is this the right move at the right time, in the right order?

Not as a reason to wait.

As a way to understand what you’re actually building.

 

The clients who get this right don’t move the fastest.

They’re not trying to optimize everything.

They’re not reacting to the market.

They just pause long enough to understand the sequence.

Then they make the same move they were already considering- just with control.

That’s the difference.

 

In Jurassic Park, the system didn’t fail because it didn’t work.

It failed because no one planned for what happens when it does.

 

Same idea here.

You don’t need a different stock.

You need a better sequence of decisions.

 

If this feels familiar:

If you’re holding a large Google position and aren’t sure what the next step is, that’s a decision worth talking through.

Schedule an introductory meeting here (click here)

 

Continue Learning:

This is a continuation of a bigger idea.

If you haven’t read it yet, start here:

Why Selling Concentrated Stock Isn’t The Decision You Think It Is (click here)

 

Important Disclosure: This material is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as tax, legal, or investment advice. Every situation is unique, and strategies discussed may not be appropriate for your specific circumstances. Please consult with a qualified tax advisor regarding any tax-related questions, and speak with a licensed financial advisor before making any financial decisions. Earnings data referenced from Alphabet Inc. Q1 2026 Earnings Release, April 29, 2026.