In a post on the X platform, Burry highlighted a potentially historic move by the tech giant, drawing comparison to a similar issuance in the late 1990s by Motorola.
- Google’s parent has reportedly initiated a bond offering that could include up to seven maturities, with the longest extending decades.
- Burry said Motorola’s similar 100-year bond was issued when the company ranked among the top 25 U.S. corporations by market capitalization and revenue.
- In the years following that bond sale, Burry added that Motorola’s prominence waned.
Michael Burry, the investor known for predicting the U.S. housing market crash, sparked fresh discussion about corporate finance by drawing parallels between Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOG, GOOGL) reported bond sales to that of Motorola.
According to a Bloomberg report, Google’s parent has initiated a bond offering that could include up to seven maturities, with the longest extending decades into the future, including one maturing in 2066.
Comparison With Motorola
Following the report, Burry highlighted a potentially historic move by the tech giant in a post on the X platform, drawing comparisons to a similar issuance in the late 1990s by Motorola.
“Alphabet looking to issue a 100-year bond. Last time this happened was Motorola in 1997, which was the last year Motorola was considered a big deal.”
-Michael Burry
He added that Motorola’s 100-year bond was issued at a time when the company ranked among the top 25 U.S. corporations by market capitalization and revenue, and even led brand rankings ahead of Microsoft Corp (MSFT).
Alphabet class A stock traded over 1% higher by Monday mid-morning. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the stock remained in ‘extremely bullish’ territory amid ‘extremely high’ message volume levels.
Waning Of Prominence
In the years following that bond sale, Burry said Motorola’s prominence waned, and competitors such as Nokia overtook it in key markets like mobile phones. After the introduction of the iPhone, Motorola’s consumer relevance diminished further.
Now, what was once a dominant name is much smaller, with its market value and sales reduced from their peak, he added.
“Today Motorola is the 232nd largest market cap with only $11 billion in sales,” said Burry.
Burry’s comments come at a time when tech companies are pushing record levels of capital into artificial intelligence computing infrastructure, with combined expenditures by heavyweights like Alphabet, Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META), and others projected to exceed over $600 billion dollars this year alone.
GOOGL stock has gained over 75% in the last 12 months.
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