Alphabet to raise $80bn from share sales to fund AI spending splurge – business live
Alphabet plans to raise up to $80 billion through stock sales to fund AI infrastructure investments, including a $10 billion share sale to Berkshire Hathaway. This is one of the largest equity raisings ever, signaling a new capital-intensive phase in the AI arms race. Meanwhile, Anthropic has confidentially filed for an IPO, valued at $965 billion.
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Alphabet to raise $80bn from share sales to fund AI spending splurge – business live
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Anthropic confidentially files for initial public offering on US stock market
LIVE Updated 2m ago
Graeme Wearden
Tue 2 Jun 2026 03.00 EDTFirst published on Tue 2 Jun 2026 02.49 EDT
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Key events
2m ago
Tech giants are no longer 'capital-light free cash flow machines'
13m ago
Introduction: Alphabet to raise $80bn for AI spending
The Gemini logo on a smartphone. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
The Gemini logo on a smartphone. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
From 13m ago
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
The economics of the AI boom are back in focus today, after Google’s parent company Alphabet said it plans to raise up to $80bn in equity to fund its vast AI infrastructure investments.
The move is one of the largest equity raisings ever, and includes a $10bn share sale to investsment giant Berkshire Hathaway
Alphabet, whose Gemini AI system has been growing its share of the AI chatbot market, says it will use the money to expand its “world-class AI compute infrastructure to meet its unprecedented customer demand.”
The company says:
AI is driving an expansionary moment for Alphabet. The company is experiencing strong demand for its AI solutions and services from enterprises and consumers, at levels that are exceeding the company’s available supply. By scaling its investments, the company seeks to expand its foundational infrastructure to support the significant growth opportunity ahead.
But, such a huge fundraising is also a warning to the markets that, for all the many billions of dollars thrown at AI infrastructure, meaningful returns are limited.
Jim Reid, market strategist at Deutsche Bank, told clients that Alhabet is reminding investors of the “unprecedented scale of the AI spending boom”, adding:
“Funding of the AI capex boom is becoming an increasingly key topic for markets.”
The decision to tap Berkshire Hathaway is eye-catching too. Under the now-retired Warren Buffett, Berkshire made a habit of stepping in to provide important, and lucrative, funding for companies who really needed cash, such as the famous $5bn investment into Goldman Sachs at the height of the financial crisis.
Alphabet is also tapping investors before some of its largest AI rivals attempt to join the stock market.
Yesterday, Anthropic -which makes the Claude chatbot – said it had filed confidentially for an initial public offering on the US stock market.
Anthropic is now valued at $965bn after raising $65bn in funding, meaning it has leapfrogged OpenAI to become the world’s most valuable startup.
Anthropic confidentially files for initial public offering on US stock market
Read more
The agenda
9.30am BST: Bank of England mortgage approvals and consumer credit data
9.45am BST: Treasury Committee session on student loans
10am BST: Eurozone inflation report for May
3pm BST: US JOLTS vacancies report
3pm BST: Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey: Oral evidence to the Lords Economic Affairs Committee
Key events
2m ago
Tech giants are no longer 'capital-light free cash flow machines'
13m ago
Introduction: Alphabet to raise $80bn for AI spending
Here’s the details of Alphabet’s $80bn equity raise:
Proposed Offerings
Concurrent underwritten offerings: $30 billion underwritten public offerings, consisting of: $15 billion in depositary shares representing mandatory convertible preferred stock; and $15 billion in Class A Common Stock and Class C Capital Stock; and
At-the-market offering: $40 billion at-the-market, or ATM, offering program for Class A Common Stock and Class C Capital Stock over time, expected to begin in Q3 2026.
Private Placement:
In addition, Alphabet has reached an agreement to sell $10 billion of stock to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in a private placement, comprised of $5 billion in Class A Common Stock at a price of $351.81 per share and $5 billion in Class C Capital Stock at a price of $348.20 per share.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says this marks a shift in the financies of major tech firms:
“Alphabet’s $80 billion equity raise is a clear sign that the AI arms race is moving into a more capital-hungry phase, but the structure matters. It’s certainly a huge chunk of money to be raising, but the devil’s in the details on this.
The full $80 billion is less than 2% of Alphabet’s mammoth $4.6 trillion market cap, and around half of the total is an initial raise, with a $30 billion offering alongside the $10 billion from Berkshire Hathaway.
The other $40 billion is a flexible drip-feed mechanism that can be used gradually over time, not earmarked for AI investment. But, however it’s structured, one thing is abundantly clear. Long gone are the days when the tech giants were capital-light free cash flow machines.
Alphabet’s massive share sale, and Anthropic’s IPO, are also reminders that an AI crash would have serious consequences for investors, both large and small.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, explains:
The AI race is no longer being funded solely by venture capitalists willing to lose money for a decade in exchange for a shot at changing the world. The financing is becoming increasingly institutionalized. Just yesterday, Alphabet announced plans to raise $80 billion to fund its AI ambitions – one of the biggest stock deals in history – including a $10 billion investment from Berkshire Hathaway.
This means that AI is increasingly becoming a financing story as well. And the deeper traditional finance gets involved, the more the AI story shifts from a technology narrative toward a financing and credit narrative.
What’s the risk? A failure of OpenAI or Anthropic – God forbid – would not likely trigger a systemic financial event. But the growing web of equity investments, debt financing, private credit facilities, infrastructure spending and long-term purchase commitments means that AI-related losses are increasingly finding their way into pension funds, insurers, asset managers, corporate balance sheets and the broader economy. We’re all in the same boat.
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
The economics of the AI boom are back in focus today, after Google’s parent company Alphabet said it plans to raise up to $80bn in equity to fund its vast AI infrastructure investments.
The move is one of the largest equity raisings ever, and includes a $10bn share sale to investsment giant Berkshire Hathaway
Alphabet, whose Gemini AI system has been growing its share of the AI chatbot market, says it will use the money to expand its “world-class AI compute infrastructure to meet its unprecedented customer demand.”
The company says:
AI is driving an expansionary moment for Alphabet. The company is experiencing strong demand for its AI solutions and services from enterprises and consumers, at levels that are exceeding the company’s available supply. By scaling its investments, the company seeks to expand its foundational infrastructure to support the significant growth opportunity ahead.
But, such a huge fundraising is also a warning to the markets that, for all the many billions of dollars thrown at AI infrastructure, meaningful returns are limited.
Jim Reid, market strategist at Deutsche Bank, told clients that Alhabet is reminding investors of the “unprecedented scale of the AI spending boom”, adding:
“Funding of the AI capex boom is becoming an increasingly key topic for markets.”
The decision to tap Berkshire Hathaway is eye-catching too. Under the now-retired Warren Buffett, Berkshire made a habit of stepping in to provide important, and lucrative, funding for companies who really needed cash, such as the famous $5bn investment into Goldman Sachs at the height of the financial crisis.
Alphabet is also tapping investors before some of its largest AI rivals attempt to join the stock market.
Yesterday, Anthropic -which makes the Claude chatbot – said it had filed confidentially for an initial public offering on the US stock market.
Anthropic is now valued at $965bn after raising $65bn in funding, meaning it has leapfrogged OpenAI to become the world’s most valuable startup.
Anthropic confidentially files for initial public offering on US stock market
Read more
The agenda
9.30am BST: Bank of England mortgage approvals and consumer credit data
9.45am BST: Treasury Committee session on student loans
10am BST: Eurozone inflation report for May
3pm BST: US JOLTS vacancies report
3pm BST: Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey: Oral evidence to the Lords Economic Affairs Committee
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