Bloomberg News reported on the 1st (local time) that Alphabet, Google's parent company, will launch an $80 billion (about 120 trillion won) seasoned equity offering to raise massive funds for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investments.
Alphabet said in a statement that starting in the third quarter of this year, it will raise funds through a $40 billion (about 61 trillion won) at-the-market (ATM) offering, selling shares from time to time. Of the $70 billion raised through the public offering, $30 billion (about 45 trillion won) will be sold via a fully underwritten offering in which the underwriter buys the entire amount and then resells it.
It will also conduct a $10 billion (about 15 trillion won) third-party private placement to Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett's investment company. Berkshire Hathaway plans to acquire $5 billion each of Alphabet Class A common stock and Class C capital stock.
Bloomberg said Alphabet's total fundraising this time is $80 billion, making it one of the largest on record. With large initial public offerings (IPOs) by SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic taking place this year, some say it is unusual for a large listed company like Alphabet to pursue a seasoned equity offering of this scale.
Alphabet is increasing related investments to develop cutting-edge AI models and respond to growing demand for AI infrastructure. In a statement, Alphabet said, "AI is currently driving Alphabet's growth," and added, "We aim to expand our investment scale to build the core infrastructure that will support the major growth opportunities ahead."