financed

Google has borrowed money to repay in 2126. AI is already financed with debt for a century ahead

by

Alphabet has just closed the largest debt transaction in its history: $20 billion in bonds. And it is preparing something even rarer: an issue in pounds that includes a 100 year bond. Expires in 2126. Why is it important. No major technology company has issued a centenary bond since IBM in 1996. That Google is doing it now says a lot about the scale of investment AI requires. And that this race is financed with wild debt. The background: A bond is borrowed money. The company pays periodic interest and returns the principal at maturity. The routine is terms of 5, 10 or 30 years. The extraordinary thing is to ask for money from a century into the future. Investors lined up: demand exceeded 100 billion, five times what Google was asking for. Alphabet planned to raise 15 billion, but raised the offer to 20 billion due to the flood. Between the lines. A century-year bond is a statement of intent: “we are building infrastructure that will last generations.” Google is thus conveying that AI is not a three-year fad or something that we will forget after the puncture, but something that will transform the economy in the long term like railways or electricity did. Yes, but. Michael Burry, the investor who anticipated the 2008 crisis, has issued a warning that has gone viral: the last technology company that issued a centenary bond was Motorola in 1997. And according to him, that was “the last year in which Motorola mattered.” In 1997 it was a top 25 company in the United States, but a year later, Nokia overtook it and then the iPhone, Android, Chinese manufacturers arrived… and now, in the hands of Lenovoit barely fits into the top 10 mobile manufacturers. Burry asks: is this trust or the gesture made right at the top, before everything changes? The figures. Alphabet’s spending on infrastructure this year may reach, according to figures published by the companyat 185,000 million dollars. More than the previous three years combined. They are data centers, chips, computing capacity for AI… The five other large companies that have increased their capex (Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle; Apple has reduced it) issued 121,000 million in bonds last year. Four times more than the annual average for 2020-2024. Main winner? Google, without a doubt. Issuing very long-term debt locks in favorable interest rates for decades. If they go up, Google already has its financing. If they go down, you can buy back the debt sooner. Plus, the interest is deductible, so it’s cheaper than using your own cash. And it does not dilute shareholders. Win-win-win. What is happening. The era in which technology companies grew solely by turning to their profits is over. The enormous expense required by the infrastructure for AI makes them use financial instruments that until now they had barely needed. They are no longer software startups. They are the largest infrastructure builders of the 21st century. And they need a lot of capital. The big question. Is giving bonuses for a century vision or overconfidence? Probably both: What is certain is that technology companies now compete in the debt markets like banks and large industrial companies. And that defines what our industry has become. In Xataka | The intellectual luxury of our era is sustaining our attention, AI is making it worse Featured image | Mitchell Luo

Minoxidil looked like the great miracle medication against baldness. A pharmaceutical company financed by Google has just overcome it

by

The fight against alopecia is A thriving market. The first laboratory to achieve the “miracle treatment” that manages to avoid or reverse androgenic alopecia (conventional hair loss associated with age) could take a lucrative prize comparable with the success of formulas such as Ozempic. One of the best positioned laboratories in this race seems to be Pelage Pharmaceuticals. Preliminary results. A few days ago, the Pelage Pharmaceuticals laboratory announced “positive” preliminary results in the second phase of its clinical trials of the compound PP405. According to its announcement, the formula showed a quick and statistically significant response in these trials. PP405. The compound developed by this company, pp405, is designed for topical application and with the aim of reactivating latent follicular stem cells (HFSC), thus allowing the restoration of hair growth. According to Explain the laboratorythese cells usually alternate latency and activity cycles when they work conventionally. However, with age or in response to certain external or internal stimuli, these cells can be “blocked” in the sleeping phase of this oscillation. As highlighted, this state of latency does not imply its disappearance or loss of viability. Test treatment seeks to “restore the regenerative capacity” of these follicles, which entails the recovery of capillary growth. 78 participants. Preliminary results published by the company They belong to phase 2a of clinical trials of the compound. It is a randomized and controlled study in which 78 participants, men and women with androgenic alopecia have taken part. The participants were divided between the experimental group and control group or placebo: the participants of the experimental group applied the compound in their scalp for four weeks; while the control group received a placebo. After four weeks of application, a 12 weeks were monitored to check the effects on the participants. Results. The results now presented do not correspond to those obtained after the essay but to their eighth week (after four weeks of treatment and four subsequent monitoring). The responsible team observed that among men with more advanced baldness, 31% Of these they showed a 20% increase in capillary density. They stood out for this reason the speed of the response to treatment, at least in principle faster than that observed in contemporary treatments. A crucial difference. However, the key to this treatment was in its effect on inactive follicles. The experiment showed regenerative potential both in the areas of weak growth and in the areas where the hair was no longer growing. The treatments we have in the present are useful when reinforcing growth in weakened but active follicles, not those that have already fallen in a state of latency. “These early clinical results reinforce the potential of our approach to go beyond the slowdown of the hair loss process and directly attack the hair follicle tegeneration,” pointed in a press release Christina Weng, medical director of Pelage Pharmaceuticals. A long way to go. The results are preliminary and correspond to a study conducted in a limited sample, so we will have to wait for the company to give new data on the drug evaluation process. According to the laboratorythe last stage of this process, phase 3 of clinical trials, could begin in 2026. The support of a giant. The origin of the project is in the work carried out in the last decade by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles and other institutions. According to the company, the development achieved the support of investors led by Google Ventures. In Xataka | The hair industry in Türkiye has a new enemy: a protein that protects us from baldness Image | Donald Teel

Many Spanish music festivals are financed by an Israeli fund. And some are already distance

by

After the recent one Eurovision Festivalthe presence of Israeli capital in events around the world begins to be discussed by activists and even by certain governments, as in Spain. Israel has become a uncomfortable presence For certain cultural events and many music festivals, such as Sónar, they are checking it in recent weeks. Sónar takes a step. He Sonar Electronic Music Festival He has distanced himself from the KKR Investment Fund, current owner of the festival through an intermediary company, in a movement that culminates a few days scrambled in the Spanish scene of large festivals. Public opinion and many groups have been contrary to the interference of the company, with pro-Israeli interests, at several festivals. Sónar has expressed With a statement its “solidarity with the Palestinian civilian population trapped in the humanitarian catastrophe that is lived in Gaza.” It is the second one that broadcasts in a few days, after one that He was criticized for his excessive warmth. This statement is a simple declaration of intentions, since Sónar will continue to be the property of KKR. What is KKR? An American investment fund whose acronym corresponds to Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts, surnames of its founders, and which has established itself as one of the world’s largest private capital companies, with assets of more than 400,000 million dollars. Among the most criticized kkr activities There are real estate investments in Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, such as Jerusalem Este, Gaza and the West Bank. KKR also controls Guesty, an Israeli platform for real estate property management, which reinforces his presence in the country’s housing sector. KKR has also invested in Israeli technology and cybersecurity companies, As Optivwhich was founded by former intelligence ex officers of the Army of Israel. Finally, Henry Kravis, KKR co -founder, is an acquaintance donor of cultural and political initiatives promoted by Israel and has financially supported US politicians aligned with Israeli interests. Within your team there are Figures like David Petraeusformer director of the CIA and president of the group in the Middle East, which makes clear their interests in the region. Festival intervention. A week ago, the newspaper El Salto He published an article About how KKR had acquired in 2024 Supersruct Entertainment for 1.3 billion euros. It is a company that organizes some eighty festivals worldwide and that in Spain is behind events as known as Sónar, Arenal Sound, or are Do Camiño, Love The 90s, Resurrection, Viña Rock, FIB, Monegros, Brava Madrid, Tsunami Xixón or Granada Sound, among many others until they add about twenty of them. At the moment, Sónar is the only one that has been unmarked from the policy of the investment firm, ensuring that he had no “control” on the company’s investments or decisions. Groups that protest. Although the festivals have not been unmarked from the presence of KKR, many groups have done so, especially those linked to social causes. Some of them They are repeat offenders, Fermín Muguruza, Non Servium, the last Ke Zierre, Sinkope, Kaos Urbano or Porretas. And the Spanish case is not unique: the London platform Boiler Roomwhich broadcasts live music sessions throughout the world, has also been acquired by KKR. The DJ and Producer Ikonika and the DJ Beatrice M are two of the artists who have announced their withdrawal from the festival that the company planned to organize in summer. Boiler Room has issued a statement In which he says that the sale has been a decision of his current owners, in which the team has not been able to influence. More festivals. The movement of the groups (and the Very visible action of civil movements such as the known as BDS movement of Boicot, divestments and sanctions against Israel) has encouraged several festivals to join Sónar, as Eldiario.es. This is what Sharemusic!, Organizers of the 90’s, love the twenties or i love reggaeton (“we want to express our total condemnation to the violence that the Palestinian people”), and Rock vineyard (They condemn “without nuances the massacre that the Palestinian people are suffering”). Both, such as Boiler Room and Sónar, clarify that despite the fact that the festivals are owned by KKR, this does not influence the programming or convictions of the teams. Government support. That the music festivals have become a center of attention for their relationship with Israel’s policies are framed in a much narrower observation of different cultural manifestations, with which it seems no longer to serve That “apolitical entertainment”. To the rejection of the bands to the festivals and the dust that has raised the result of Eurovision, the government positions are added. Last Saturday, the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, said the KKR fund “It’s not welcome” in Spain and commented on the “penetration” at music festivals. After Eurovision, Pedro Sánchez himself requested the Exclusion of Israel from international cultural eventslike the festival itself.

A man wanted to put order in the fish of the fish market. His invention financed one of the largest cars collections in Europe

by

In everyday life, there are inventions as simple as it is essential that, however, they often go unnoticed. One of them is the “shift” ticket dispenser that we find in fishing, butchers and supermarkets, and that has ended the discussions in Waiting tails. Behind this invention is Rodger Dudding, a British who with his business vision kneaded a great fortune that allowed him to fulfill his great dream: to gather one of the Collections of more impressive cars from the United Kingdom and Europe. As They counted in Motorpasionthanks to his ingenuity, today we not only enjoy more orderly linesbut we can also contemplate one of the largest private collections of classic cars in Europe with More than 450 cars ranging from Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin or the Ford T, to such humble models as the Fiat Topolino. Rodger Dudding and the invention that changed the queues Rodger Dudding was born in the United Kingdom and is a training engineer. At 87, he is responsible for the distribution in the United Kingdom of one of the most used inventions in businesses around the world: the queue management system based on a Shift ticket dispenser. In 1970, Dudding He founded Lonsoa company that is still active, and began to manufacture the ticket dispensers that have avoided more fights and confusion when waiting for the turn and supermarkets. The classic red dispenser quickly became a standard, facilitating life to both customers and merchants. Even today, a significant percentage of Dudding’s benefits comes from the commercialization of this system, which remains essential in businesses of all kinds. Passion for cars With the money obtained from ordering the tails of the shops, Rodger Dudding decided to invest in his great passion: classic cars. Although, the millionaire collector has preference for British models, in An interview For the channel Bellow the Radar Carshe confessed that he had not been able to resist to the Ferrari or any beautiful car that was shot. Dudding said that, at first, not his intention to start a collection as such, but was limited to going buying the cars they liked. One day, his wife got fed up with his garage full of old cars, so Dudding acquired An old tram garage To save your cars. Almost without realizing it, the garage with capacity for about 120 cars He was smallgiving rise to the current collection that already It occupies three stores. The Dudding collection, known as Studio 434includes models of all times and styles: from 1911 models, such as Ford T, through racing cars prior to World War II or exclusive Limited luxury editions. The collector millionaire confesses that, beyond the Ferrari, Rolls-Royce or Aston Martin that form his collection, there is only one car through which life would be played to rescue him from a fire: a Morris Minor that his father bought again in 1952 and that his sister inherited. He bought a more current car equivalent and incorporated his father’s car to his collection. According to estimated Dudding, the collection is valued in More than 40 million pounds sterling (which are about 47.7 million euros) and includes, in addition to cars of all kinds, motorcycles and objects related to the motor world. His fetish: Aston Martin Lagonda Despite the diverse of the Studio 434 collection, there is a model for which Dudding feels a special predilection: Aston Martin Lagonda. The millionaire has no less than 24 units of different versions, including the first and last one that were manufactured. The Dudding collection had 26 lagonda in its catalog, but, as confessed in its interview with Bellow the Radar Carsthey made a purchase offer for them that he could not reject and were to be part of other collections, so he dispensed with two of them. One of the most striking aspects of Rodger Dudding’s collection is that All vehicles are in perfect condition of operation. The collection has a motor engineer who works full -time by cyclionally reviewing each and every one of the cars and has them A day in maintenance. In addition, provided that the British climate allows it, the revised vehicles go around the storage apple so that the suspensions and mechanical elements They move. Studio 434, the company that manages the collection, is responsible for renting some of these Classic cars for eventsweddings, movies and television series, thus contributing to the conservation of the collection that has become a reference for motor lovers. Some of the cars in this collection have participated in series such as The Crown or in the saga of Harry Potter. In Xataka | They are founders and ultra -ups, but they have not always driven luxury supercoches: a review of the cars of the Tech millionaires In Xataka | McLaren only sent five units of this Senna LM to the US: a millionaire bought them all to be the only one to drive it Image | Flickr (Elyse Horvath, Niels), Studio434

Emirates financed a study to know if it can cause rain in the desert with solar farms. The answer is yes

by

As water It becomes a more precious resource than oila group of scientists has analyzed if solar farms can have an even more beneficial effect than generating energy with sunlight: making it rain in the desert, offering the communities most affected by drought water and renewable energy at the same time . Climate engineering against drought. Given the drama of its waning water resources, the United Arab Emirates government financed a study published by German researchers in Earth System Dynamics. The researchers proposed to create artificial heat islands by installing large black surfaces (ideally, solar panel farms) to enhance precipitation in arid areas. A promising result. The scientists simulated the impact of these surfaces with advanced models and obtained surprising results. A heat island of 20 km² induces an increase in rains 571,616 m³ a day. This could be translated into water supplies for about 31,000 people. Only with an area of ​​20 km². But the interesting thing about study is not its quantitative results, but the possibility of implementing these surfaces taking advantage of existing infrastructure, such as photovoltaic solar panels. This solution would not only address water scarcity but also contribute to renewable energy production. How it works. That a farm of solar panels can induce rain is not a very intuitive concept, but it is something that He has been studying for a while, particularly in the Sahara. These facilities, by absorbing heat with their dark panels, could create ascending currents that, under the right conditions, would trigger rain storms. When these farms exceed a certain size (about 15 km²), the heat absorbed by the panels, in contrast to the most reflective sand, significantly increases the convection currents necessary for cloud formation. Areas where we know is viable. For this process to work, a source of atmospheric humidity is needed. The models showed that the wet winds of great height from the Persian Gulf are enough, to the joy of Emirates. The researchers also identified other areas of the world where it could work, such as Namibia and the Peninsula of Baja California in Mexico. Some limitations. The initiative requires darker surfaces than those commonly produced by solar panel manufacturers. Some panels are even reflective to improve your thermal performance. However, the Construction of increasingly large solar farmsespecially in China, they open the door to try the idea in the real world. It won’t be simple, of course. The implementation of gigantic heat islands raises logistic, but also ecological and social challenges. For example, how would these surfaces affect local biodiversity? What would be the visual and social impact on nearby communities? You need more research and pilot tests to discover it. The case of Emirates. The United Arab Emirates government, which financed the study, is facing the shortage of two ways, mainly: desalination and sowing of clouds. The program of Cloud sowing through airplanes Plan about 300 missions every year, but like desalination, it is an expensive method with limitations. In this context, large solar farm surfaces are a promising alternative. Image | Pixabay In Xataka | The regions of the world most threatened by drought, collected in a great interactive map In Xataka | The biggest problem of Perovskita’s solar panels was its durability. China has just resolved it *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.