A technician pulls cables out of a truck to install Google Fiber.
George Frey | Reuters
google The company said its fiber internet division, called GFiber, would merge with Astound Broadband to form an independent provider, with Google remaining as a minority shareholder.
The new company will be majority-owned by investment firm Stonepeak and led by the existing GFiber management team, “leveraging its expertise in high-speed fiber innovation to manage the total network footprint,” Google said in a press release Wednesday. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
Launched in 2010, Google Fiber was Google’s early effort to build a superfast fiber-optic broadband network in the United States, beginning with the rollout of gigabit speeds in Kansas City in 2012. Google offered to build gigabit fiber connections into homes that were much faster than typical U.S. internet speeds at the time.
Since then, some planned expansions have been scrapped, and the company focused on select markets rather than a costly and time-consuming national rollout.
The spinout comes as Google puts the unit on a path to financial independence as demand for artificial intelligence services drives demand for high-capacity networks. The company said the external capital will help it expand across the country.
“This partnership with Astound and Stonepeak is the next step in our decade-long mission to redefine what customers can expect from their internet providers,” Dinni Jain, CEO of GFiber, said in a release.
GFiber is part of Google’s “Other Bets” division, which includes non-core assets such as the Waymo robotaxis division and drug discovery business Isomorphic Labs. In 2025, the segments had combined sales of $1.54 billion, less than 0.5% of Alphabet’s total sales, and an operating loss of $16.8 billion.
The move to fiber infrastructure is becoming increasingly important as the demand for high-capacity networks to support cloud computing, streaming, and new AI services increases. U.S. tech giants are also deploying rapidly expanding networks of transcontinental submarine cables to meet growing bandwidth demands.
Astound is a leading U.S. cable operator and broadband platform that was acquired by Stonepeak in 2021 for $8.1 billion. Stonepeak specializes in infrastructure and real estate.
A Google spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
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