All posts tagged: Alphabet

Papa Johns Is Getting Into Drone Delivery—but Not for Pizza

Papa Johns Is Getting Into Drone Delivery—but Not for Pizza

Published by skeptic

Starting today, eager customers of the US pizza restaurant chain Papa Johns living in one corner of southern North Carolina will have the opportunity to receive their food from the sky, thanks to a new collaboration with Alphabet’s drone company, Wing. But Papa Johns’ signature pizzas won’t be on offer. Instead, drone-loving North Carolinians will have to choose between three kinds of sandwiches, a newer product for the fast-food chain: Philly cheesesteak, chicken bacon ranch, or steak and mushroom varieties. Drone deliveries are popping up in more communities across the US and the world. Questions about the long-term economics and regulatory picture around unmanned aerial vehicles persist, but Wing boasts partnerships with Walmart, Panera, and DoorDash and is delivering through the sky to customers in four metro areas: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Houston. (In 2019, Wing received the US Federal Aviation Administration’s first certificate allowing a drone delivery company to operate in the country.) Competing drone companies, including Zipline, Amazon Prime Air, and Flytrex, fly packages, medical supplies, and Chipotle burritos in select communities …

Google Cloud surpasses B but says growth was capacity-constrained

Google Cloud surpasses $20B but says growth was capacity-constrained

Published by skeptic

Google Cloud, the business under parent company Alphabet that provides enterprise AI solutions, had a blowout first quarter, with revenues topping $20 billion for the time, a 63% increase from the same period last year. However, investors were concerned about the constraints surrounding the business and how Google decides to allocate cloud capacity. In the first quarter of 2026, the company said its cloud growth was driven by strong performance in the Google Cloud Platform, which grew at a higher rate than the Google Cloud division’s overall revenue growth. (The Cloud division includes a variety of services like infrastructure, data analytics, AI/ML tools, and Google Workspace.) Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told analysts on the Q1 2026 earnings call on Wednesday that this growth came from “strong demand” for Gemini Enterprise and its AI solutions, and pointed to an increased demand for infrastructure, including TPU hardware and data centers. AI solutions were the largest driver of cloud growth, with products built on Google’s generative AI models growing nearly 800% year-over-year. Google Gemini Enterprise also grew 40% …

Google just gave Sundar Pichai a 2M pay package

Google just gave Sundar Pichai a $692M pay package

Published by skeptic

Sundar Pichai’s new pay package could be worth $692 million. Per a filing first spied by the FT, Alphabet has structured a three-year deal for its Google CEO that could make him one of the highest-paid executives on the planet — but most of it is tied to performance, including new stock incentives linked to Waymo and Wing, its drone delivery venture. What’s striking is how little public fascination Pichai attracts compared to Google’s founders. Larry Page and Sergey Brin — the second- and fourth richest people in the world — have lately captured headlines for a different reason entirely; both have been snapping up lavish Miami properties, widely seen as a response to California’s proposed Billionaire Tax Act — a ballot initiative targeting the state’s roughly 200 billionaires with a one-time 5% levy on net worth exceeding $1 billion. Page reportedly spent over $173 million on two mansions in Coconut Grove, Florida, recently, while Brin was just linked to a $51 million megamansion 14 miles away, atop two earlier purchases totaling $92 million. Pichai, …

Waymo Hits a Rough Patch In Washington, DC

Waymo Hits a Rough Patch In Washington, DC

Published by skeptic

Waymo, the Alphabet subsidiary that develops self-driving vehicle tech, has picked up speed. The company now operates robotaxis in six cities and has announced plans to launch in a dozen others this year. It just raised $16 billion in a new round of funding and says it has served over 20 million rides since the company launched its service in 2020, 14 million of them in 2025 alone. But Waymo’s mostly smooth operations have hit a rough patch in Washington, DC, where the company first began testing in 2024. Despite frequent District sightings of the now-familiar white, electric Jaguars, and despite spending tens of thousands of dollars in payments to at least four outside lobbying firms last year, according to filings, the company’s robotaxis are stuck in regulatory limbo. It has no firm debut date in the city, though DC is still listed on its website as launching in 2026. Waymo declined to comment. The legal logjam is a highly visible test for a company—and industry—that’s hoping to expand quickly across the US and, to …

Waymo raises B to scale robotaxi fleet internationally

Waymo raises $16B to scale robotaxi fleet internationally

Published by skeptic

Waymo, the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle company, has raised $16 billion as it plans to grow its fleet of driverless taxicabs this year to more than a dozen new cities internationally, including London and Tokyo. Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, and Sequoia Capital led the funding round, which now values Waymo at $126 billion, the company said in a blog post Monday. Parent company Alphabet supported the round and maintained its position as majority investor. The round also included significant investments from Andreessen Horowitz and Mubadala Capital, as well as Bessemer Venture Partners, Silver Lake, Tiger Global, and T. Rowe Price. Additional investors included BDT & MSD Partners, CapitalG, Fidelity Management & Research Company, GV, Kleiner Perkins, Perry Creek Capital, and Temasek. Waymo said the funds will be used to fuel its growth, which has accelerated over the past year and doesn’t appear to be slowing. The company recently secured rides to and from San Francisco International Airport and has expanded its robotaxi service throughout Northern California and several major metropolitan areas in the U.S., including …

News diary 2-8 February: Alphabet financial results, Winter Olympics, NFL Super Bowl

News diary 2-8 February: Alphabet financial results, Winter Olympics, NFL Super Bowl

Published by Sam Flores

Winter Olympics 2026 logo. Picture: Shutterstock/kovop This week features a wave of financial results to be released from major multinational and media companies, including Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, the New York Times and News Corp, the owner of The Sun and The Times. It’s also a big week in sport: the Winter Olympics begin in Milan on Friday, followed on Saturday by cricket’s T20 World Cup and rugby’s Six Nations. The week then closes with the Super Bowl, the NFL’s annual championship game in the US, as the Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots. One to watch out for: the Government is due to publish its National Cancer Plan this week. While a firm date hasn’t been announced yet, the government has in the past used World Cancer Day (4 February) to promote cancer-related policy announcements. Leading the week Monday (February 2): ‘Suffolk Strangler’ goes on trial charged with murdering Victoria Hall in 1999; Premier League transfer window closes. Tuesday (February 3): MPs hold first debate on two-child limit removal bill; Donald Trump …

Waymo reportedly raising a B funding round

Waymo reportedly raising a $16B funding round

Published by skeptic

Waymo has nearly finalized a new $16 billion funding round that will value the robotaxi company at $110 billion, according to the Financial Times. More than three-fourths of that funding will reportedly come from a source close to home — Alphabet, where Waymo is a subsidiary. (The company was incubated as part of Alphabet’s “moonshot factory” X.) The FT reports that Waymo is bringing on new investors Dragoneer, Sequoia Capital, and DST Global, with existing backers Andreessen Horowitz and Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala also participating in the round. When contacted by TechCrunch, a company spokesperson said in a statement, “While we don’t comment on private financial matters, our trajectory is clear: with over 20 million trips completed, we are focused on the safety-led operational excellence and technological leadership required to meet the vast demand for autonomous mobility.” The company is expanding quickly, including with a recent launch in Miami. That growth has come with some challenges, including a number of robotaxis that stalled at traffic lights during a widespread San Francisco blackout. Waymo has …