Three Of Credit's Biggest Names Are In Talks On Waymo's $3 Billion Debt Raise

Alphabet subsidiary Waymo is in active negotiations with major credit managers, including Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO), Sixth Street, and Blackstone Inc., to execute a $3 billion unrated debt raise. Advised by Goldman Sachs, the debt offering is nearing finalization and may carry a spread exceeding 500 basis points over benchmark rates. This step follows an earlier $16 billion equity funding round that valued the autonomous driving leader at approximately $126 billion. The strategic shift toward debt financing mirrors the capital path previously taken by ride-hailing peers like Uber as the business matures. Accessing private credit enables Waymo to finance heavy AI infrastructure costs and scale its commercial driverless fleet without further equity dilution. Waymo is rapidly accelerating its commercial rollout, currently operating over 500,000 paid trips weekly across 14 metropolitan areas with ambitions to surpass 1 million weekly trips across 20 cities this year. Despite ongoing regulatory scrutiny from the NHTSA regarding a safety incident in California, the massive debt capital indicates robust institutional confidence in autonomous vehicle scaling.