Rightmove shares plunge after warning of slower profit growth due to AI spending

British real estate listing company Rightmove saw its share price fall sharply, as much as 28% after telling investors that its profits in 2026 will grow more slowly because it is spending more on AI ￰0￱ one point, the share price dropped by almost a third, which is a heavy blow for a business that has long been seen in the city as predictable, steady, and fairly ￰1￱ company now expects operating profit to rise by between 3% and 5% in 2026, which is far lower than the around 9% increase it expects for the current year. Rightmove’s share drop set a new yearly low The firm says the difference is almost completely down to how much it is putting into new systems, much of it linked to artificial ￰2￱ is reworking the tools that estate agents pay to use and reshaping parts of the main consumer app and ￰3￱ firm is also looking at tools that could help agents work faster or respond to buyers more ￰4￱ sharp share slide set a new yearly low for Rightmove, though the losses later eased when some bargain hunters stepped ￰5￱ analysts tried to calm nerves, though it did not fully ￰6￱ said the scale of the shift has raised questions that the market cannot yet ￰7￱ bank cut its rating and its price target on the stock while it waits for more ￰8￱ a note to clients, the bank said the guidance could trim forecasts for operating profit in 2028 by anything between 5% and 19% based on what analysts had pencilled ￰9￱ of this is happening in a wider environment in which investors are starting to ask themselves if everyone has become too carried away with the AI ￰10￱ technology shares had already been sliding the day ￰11￱ in Asia and Europe followed the mood during their sessions before later recovering some of those ￰12￱ strategist Kiran Ganesh told CNBC that investors had enjoyed a smooth rally in AI-related shares even though there is no clear way of knowing how big the returns will be and how long it will take before the spending turns into real ￰13￱ other words, there is a risk that everyone got caught up in the ￰14￱ Rightmove news then arrived at a time when nerves were already a little ￰15￱ insists the spending is the correct ￰16￱ firm expects operating profit to bounce back after 2028 and is targeting yearly increases of about 12% by 2030 once the heavy building work is ￰17￱ chief executive, Johan Svanstrom , said the company is rethinking nearly every aspect of how it ￰18￱ said artificial intelligence now sits at the centre of how the business plans for the future.

“AI is now becoming absolutely central to how we run our business and plan for the future.” Svanstrom. “We are already working on a wide range of exciting AI-enabled innovations to benefit our partners and consumers, and see vast potential in utilising our leading reach and connected data,” added Svanstrom in an ￰19￱ also said the company is confident that the upgrades will create a stronger digital platform over ￰20￱ City will debate that for a ￰21￱ the meantime, the market reaction shows how fragile sentiment is whenever a firm links a slowdown to artificial intelligence ￰22￱ is still faith in the tech theme, but there is also a sense that the easy money phase has passed and companies are now being asked to prove real outcomes rather than simply talk about ￰23￱ seen where it ￰24￱ in Cryptopolitan Research and reach crypto’s sharpest investors and builders.