The search engine industry has long been dominated by Google, with its parent company Alphabet (GOOGL) commanding nearly 90% of global search traffic. However, recent developments suggest that this dominance may be under threat.

With shares down almost 8%, Google lost more market cap Wednesday than the total valuation of Nike or Starbucks.

Alphabet stock sank after senior Apple executive signaled that the iPhone maker was looking at search engine alternatives for its Safari web browser.