Business & Markets — October 11, 2026

Waymo secures first-ever loan. Alphabet's robotaxi unit raised $5 billion from lenders, its first borrowing, to fund expansion into new markets at home and abroad.

The borrowing marks a shift in how the self-driving company funds its growth, which until now had not included debt from outside lenders, according to Inc. The capital is earmarked for pushing the robotaxi service into additional markets both in the United States and internationally, suggesting the unit's expansion ambitions now exceed what equity backing alone was covering. Terms of the loan were not detailed in the report.

Inc. · Read more →

Musk becomes richest American ever. Elon Musk's trillionaire status makes him wealthier than his next three contemporaries combined and richer than historical tycoons including John D. Rockefeller.

The milestone places Musk's fortune at a scale without precedent in U.S. history, according to MarketWatch, which notes the gap is substantial rather than marginal. The outlet's comparison extends beyond living billionaires to Gilded Age industrialists, with Rockefeller cited as a benchmark Musk has now surpassed. The combined wealth of the three next-richest Americans still falls short of his total, underscoring how far he has pulled ahead of his peers.

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Global PC shipments fall 20%. Worldwide PC shipments declined 20%, the sharpest drop since early 2023, as AI-driven component shortages pushed prices higher and weakened demand.

The downturn reverses the industry's recent trajectory and represents the steepest contraction in roughly two years, according to The Register. The outlet ties the slump to a supply-side squeeze: demand for components from AI hardware makers has created shortages that are raising costs for PC manufacturers. Those higher costs are being passed on to buyers, and the resulting price increases are in turn suppressing purchases, compounding the shipment decline.

The Register · Read more →