Waymo closes a $5 billion term loan
On 8 October 2026 Waymo announced that it had closed a $5 billion term loan, its first debt financing. PIMCO, Blackstone and Sixth Street were the lead syndicated lenders and Goldman Sachs the sole lead bookrunner. Waymo's chief financial officer wrote that the debt complements the $16 billion of equity the company closed earlier in 2026, and that service in its fifteenth US city had begun the month before.
Why it matters
The post presents the loan as a sign of how the company wants to be read: "an important step in our evolution into a scaling commercial enterprise", with the capital meant to accelerate expansion in the United States and abroad. The page gives no interest rate, maturity, security or purchase plan, so the record shows who lent and why Waymo says it borrowed, not what the debt costs.
What the post says. Written by Waymo CFO Steve Fieler and dated 8 October 2026. "Today, Waymo closed a $5 billion term loan, marking our first debt financing." PIMCO, Blackstone and Sixth Street participated as lead syndicated lenders; Capital Group, Loomis Sayles and T. Rowe Price as significant lenders; further lenders were Apollo, Blue Owl, Diameter Capital Partners, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity Management & Research Company, HPS Investment Partners and Oaktree; Goldman Sachs served as the sole lead bookrunner. A note says that participation by institutional lenders may represent or include funds, client accounts and vehicles managed or advised by those institutions or their affiliates. Earlier in 2026 Waymo closed a "$16 billion equity investment"; in September 2026 ("last month") it launched service in its "fifteenth U.S. city" and announced new international cities. The post says the financing gives "additional financial flexibility to strengthen our balance sheet" and that the capital will accelerate the expansion of the ride-hailing service across the United States and internationally. What the record does not claim. The post gives no interest rate, maturity, security, terms, valuation or vehicle count, and does not break down what the money will fund; press reports of such details were not used. The figure is Waymo's own statement.