Alphabet Markets Massive Europe Bond Sales in AI Funding Push
Get caught up.
Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet
Photographer: Jonathan Johnson/BloombergAlphabet sold billions of dollars in sterling and Swiss franc-denominated bonds today, widening its funding avenues as the Google parent plans as much as $185 billion in capital expenditures this year.
For the £5.5 billion ($7.5 billion) sterling portion, the company offered several tenors including an ultra-rare issue of a 100-year note. The Swiss offering raised 3.1 billion Swiss francs ($4.1 billion) across various maturities. Both sales set records for corporate bonds in the respective markets.
Alphabet’s sterling and franc bond offerings follow a $20 billion dollar debt sale yesterday that drew the strongest-ever orders for a corporate bond offering. The company plans to double its capital expenditures this year as the artificial-intelligence race heats up among tech giants.
Alphabet isn’t alone in relying on bond sales to help fund its AI ambitions. Morgan Stanley expects borrowing by the massive cloud-computing companies known as hyperscalers to reach $400 billion this year, up from $165 billion in 2025. —
Vladimir Putin is likely buying time in Ukraine peace talks and has no intention to end the war, according to assessments from Poland and Estonia. Estonia’s foreign intelligence said Russia is using negotiations as a “tool for manipulation,” while a Polish official said the Kremlin is “playing games.” The assessments cast a shadow over US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the four-year war.