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January 29, 2024

#DataCenters are #Blackstone’s new #RealEstate Play


Blackstone Building a $25 Billion Empire of Power-Hungry Data Centers 

Blackstone is playing its classic playbook for real estate—a move deployed in everything from warehouses to suburban homes:

  1. Identify where there's a rising need for properties but too few to meet demand.
  2. Direct billions of investor $ to build giant landlords poised to capture big rents & market share.
After its $10 billion takeover of data center operator QTS in 2021, world's largest private equity firm is fueling rapid growth at one of the top landlords for tech giants. 

The company has parlayed its land reserves to profit on a short supply of space and power in key markets. QTS has $15 billion of properties in development, up from $1 billion at the time of its acquisition. It's become North America's largest provider of leased data center capacity based on megawatts under contract, after ranking No. 4 just three years ago, according to research firm datacenterHawk.

See the whole article on Bloomberg here: 

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January 23, 2024

Alphabet’s Moonshot X Lab Cuts Staff, Seeks External Funds

Google Layoffs Saga Continues as Alphabet's X Cuts Dozens of Jobs, Seeks Funds - Bloomberg
Since Google reorganized itself as a conglomerate in 2015, X's moonshots have sought to "graduate" as Other Bets, or independent ventures under the banner of parent company Alphabet. But Alphabet could only accommodate so many Other Bets, creating a bottleneck for X ventures that were ready to take the next step, according to one of the people with knowledge of the matter. Startups within X often faced a choice between waiting for a spot to open up or striking out on their own.

From Bloomberg:
Alphabet's Moonshot X Lab Cuts Staff, Turns to Outside Investors

X is the brainchild of Google founders Brin and Page Google's job cuts are part of a broader cost-efficiency push

Alphabet Inc.'s lab for pioneering technology is laying off dozens of employees as it turns to outside investors to help fund its ventures.

The division, known as X, has in recent months ramped up discussions on funding with venture capitalists and other investors, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named as it is private. The lab is adopting a new structure that'll enable its projects to more easily spin out of X as independent startups with support from Alphabet and outside backers, according to one of the people and an email to staff obtained by Bloomberg.

"We're expanding our approach to focus on spinning out more projects as independent companies funded through market-based capital," Astro Teller, who leads the lab, wrote in the email. "We'll do this by opening our scope to collaborate with a broader base of industry and financial partners, and by continuing to emphasize lean teams and capital efficiency."

As part of the restructuring, X is laying off dozens of employees, according to one of the people with knowledge of the matter. The layoffs are focused on support staff, the person said. Alphabet didn't respond to an email seeking comment.

Launched by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, X has captured the public imagination by pursuing projects from self-driving cars to high-altitude balloons that connect remote communities to the internet. But in recent years the lab has come under more pressure to show that it can turn its speculative bets into profitable businesses, and Alphabet as a whole is waging a campaign to cut costs.

X employees had explored raising outside capital for their ventures in the past, but they ran into concerns from Alphabet leadership, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

   addition to seeking venture capital, X has met with family offices, sovereign wealth funds, private equity firms and strategic investors, or companies operating in the same industries that the moonshots are targeting, according to the people.

"This approach will give us more opportunity to focus on what Xers do best: inventing breakthrough technologies to help solve some of the world's most pressing challenges," [X Labs head] Teller wrote in the note to staff. "Because the world needs moonshots more now than ever."

See the full article online on Bloomberg here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-22/google-layoffs-saga-continues-as-alphabet-s-x-cuts-dozens-of-jobs-seeks-funds?sref=VxHCy32x

May 16, 2022

Super Blood Red Flower Moon

It will be blood red from all of Earth's sunrises and sunsets reflected on to the Moon's surface.

In the year's only full lunar eclipse, Earth will come between the Sun and the Moon.

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