Google parent Alphabet upsizes record-breaking equity raise to $85bn

Alphabet has increased the size of its record equity raise to almost $85bn, about $5bn more than targeted, in a sign of investors’ willingness to fund the Google parent’s vast AI infrastructure investments.

Gross proceeds from the sale of new Class A and Class C common stock, as well as a $10bn private placement to Berkshire Hathaway, are expected to total $84.75bn, the company said in a filing on Wednesday. Earlier this week, it said it expected to raise up to $80bn.

Several of the market’s biggest tech companies expect to spend a collective $725bn on AI this year, and while they have been able to fund those investments with the vast amounts of cash their core businesses generate, the bills have begun to strain their finances.

Alphabet’s share sale is its first stock offering in more than two decades and is set to become the biggest equity fundraising of all time.

This is a developing story