Alphabet's Waymo is closing in on its first debt financing — a package of more than $3 billion in unrated senior debt from Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO), Blackstone, and Sixth Street Partners, according to reports on September 2. Goldman Sachs is advising the robotaxi unit and the transaction could be completed within days.
From equity darling to private-credit borrower
Waymo has, until now, funded its expansion exclusively through equity. It raised $16 billion in February 2026 at a $126 billion post-money valuation. The switch to debt marks a strategic pivot as the company scales up hardware, real-estate, and AI compute costs faster than equity investors can price them without further dilution.
The unrated debt is expected to price at more than 500 basis points above the benchmark rate — a wide spread that reflects both Waymo's negative EBITDA and the trade-off it accepted by going unrated: fewer public disclosures and no rating-agency scrutiny, but a materially higher cost of capital.
Fleet and city math the debt has to cover
The financing arrives days after Waymo opened paid service in Denver, San Diego, and Tampa, bringing its commercial footprint to 14 U.S. cities and its fleet past 4,000 Jaguar I-Pace and Zeekr Ojai vehicles. The company said it is currently delivering more than 500,000 rides per week and targeting 1 million weekly rides by the end of 2026 — roughly doubling current volume.
Waymo's capex needs are compounding fast: a purpose-built 5nm ASIC for onboard inference, next-generation sensor stacks on the Zeekr Ojai, and the Gemini-powered cabin experience it began rolling out in August all sit against a robotaxi P&L that still runs deeply negative. Debt from long-duration private-credit funds gives Waymo room to keep scaling without going back to Alphabet or its 2026 equity syndicate.
A signal to the private-credit market
PIMCO, Blackstone, and Sixth Street are three of the largest private-credit lenders in the world and rarely take unrated exposure to a company running negative EBITDA. Their participation signals that private credit is willing to underwrite autonomous-vehicle cash flows on a mile-and-fleet basis, not just as a venture bet. It is also a shot across the bow for competitors — Tesla's Cybercab unveiling, Nevada's 8,000-permit rollout, and Zoox's paid launches now sit alongside a rival with $3 billion of private-credit firepower.
Reporting based on coverage from Bloomberg, Reuters via Investing.com, and Crypto Briefing (Sept. 2, 2026).