Linus Tech Tips Discussion

 Google Fiber (GFiber) will be sold to Private Equity, merging with Astound Broadband Summary Alphabet has agreed to sell Google Fiber to private equity firm Stonepeak, which will combine the service with Astound Broadband, a cable and fiber provider. Google Fiber, recently rebranded as GFiber, was launched by Google in 2010 and was one of the first companies to offer Gigabit Fiber connections in various metros in the US.               +       Quotes Quote Google Fiber, now officially called GFiber, is being sold to private equity firm Stonepeak and will be combined with cable-and-fiber firm Astound Broadband to create a larger Internet service provider. (...) The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, with an expected closing date in Q4 of this year. The sale price was not disclosed. (...) Astound is already the product of industry consolidation via a series of private equity deals that combined Wave Broadband, RCN, and Grande Communications. A research note from the New Street analyst firm said GFiber offers service at 2.8 million locations in 15 states, while Astound’s service area has 4.45 million locations in 12 states and the District of Columbia. Most of Astound’s network is cable broadband, but it has 892,014 fiber locations and 44,548 copper locations.   My thoughts I didn't realize there is a fate worse for a Google Product than being inevitably killed off, but here we have it: the corpse of a relegated Google product to be gobbled up by an equity vampire. Too bad too - the product started off with such promise and drove many competitors to get their act together, allowing for FTTP and Gigabit residential speeds to become standard in metro areas.     Sources https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/google-fiber-will-be-sold-to-private-equity-firm-and-merge-with-cable-company/ https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/11/google-sells-partial-stake-in-fiber-becomes-minority-owner-in-venture-.html