Google’s Parent Company Squeezes Its Moonshot Projects, ‘Other Bets’

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is cutting back its commitment to ambitious moonshot projects.

Company executives have told staffers at the X unit, which converts promising investment projects into full-fledged subsidiaries, known as Other Bets, that no such conversions will happen this year, said a person familiar with the situation. At the same time, executives have told staffers that projects within X that might have turned into full subsidiaries should seek outside capital and depart from the Alphabet corporate umbrella, the person said. The most advanced projects at X include Chorus, which is developing new sensor technology to solve supply chain issues, and Tapestry, which uses computational tools to predict electric grid usage.