Waymo Closes Its First Debt Deal, $5 Billion at 5.25 Points Over Benchmark

Waymo has closed a $5 billion loan, its first debt financing, with Goldman Sachs as sole lead bookrunner, TechCrunch reported on Thursday. A Bloomberg report relayed by AI Weekly on Oct. 6 said the deal was upsized from an initial $3 billion target and priced at 5.25 percentage points over a benchmark rate.

The benchmark is not named in either account, so the all-in rate is unknown. Waymo has not published terms, and TechCrunch's version does not give a maturity or an interest rate.

Who lent the money

TechCrunch names PIMCO, Blackstone and Sixth Street first, followed by Capital Group, Loomis Sayles, T. Rowe Price, Apollo, Blue Owl, Diameter Capital Partners, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity Management & Research Company, HPS Investment Partners and Oaktree. That is 13 lenders. Goldman Sachs arranged the deal as sole lead bookrunner.

A Waymo spokesperson said by email that the debt gives the company "financial flexibility to strengthen its balance sheet," according to TechCrunch. The spokesperson is not named there. Waymo called the loan a step in its evolution into a "scaling commercial enterprise."

What 5.25 points costs

The spread alone is arithmetic: 5.25 percent of $5 billion is $262.5 million a year before the benchmark is added, assuming the loan is fully drawn. Neither report says whether it is drawn in full or in tranches. The AI Weekly summary does not say whether the loan is secured or what credit rating it carries.

Set against the equity, the loan is small. Waymo raised $16 billion in February 2026 at a $126 billion valuation, in a round led by Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global and Sequoia Capital, with Alphabet taking part and remaining the majority investor. The $5 billion loan equals about 31 percent of that round and about 4 percent of that valuation.

1. 2020 round3.2 $ billion
2. 2021 round2.5 $ billion
3. 2024 Series C5.6 $ billion
4. Feb. 2026 equity16 $ billion
5. Oct. 2026 loan5 $ billion

Source: TechCrunch, Oct. 8, 2026

Every earlier line in the chart is equity. TechCrunch calls this Waymo's first debt financing.

What the debt is for

AI Weekly links the borrowing to fleet expansion and rising compute costs, though it says the proceeds are not itemised. Waymo offers robotaxi service in 15 markets: Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego in California; Austin, Dallas and Houston in Texas; Miami, Orlando and Tampa in Florida, and others. It is testing in London and Tokyo and plans to launch in both.

That expansion is also under federal scrutiny. TechCrunch reports that NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened a probe into Waymo robotaxis illegally passing school buses, and that NHTSA separately examined an incident in which a Waymo vehicle struck a child near a Santa Monica school at about six mph. The child had minor injuries. The NTSB opened its own investigation in 2026 after robotaxis were seen passing stopped school buses in at least two states.

Competitors are working through the same questions. Tesla's Cybercab was photographed with a missing door panel after a crash in Philadelphia, as we reported earlier. Venture money for capital-heavy companies is also running at record size: 27 companies raised $1 billion or more in the third quarter.

What is still missing

The maturity, the benchmark and the security package are the three terms that would show what the loan costs and who stands first in line. TechCrunch's report gives none of them, and the Bloomberg-sourced summary gives only the spread.