“GFiber” is being unloaded by the Monster of Mountain View:
Google owner Alphabet announced Wednesday that it will keep only a minority stake in the fiber ISP that launched with grand ambitions in 2012 but scaled back its expansion plans in 2016. Alphabet and Astound owner Stonepeak announced “an agreement to combine GFiber with Astound Broadband, creating a leading independent fiber provider,” with the merged company to be “majority owned by Stonepeak, an investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets.”
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. The deal will help GFiber take “a major step toward its goal of operational and financial independence” and obtain the “external capital and strategic focus needed to accelerate its next phase of growth,” the announcement said.
“private equity destroys yet another useful service,” said an Ars Technica commenter.
“I’ve made a lot of effort to de-Google my life, but I couldn’t ever bring myself to get rid of Google Fiber,” said another commenter. “When all you want is a reliable, fast, dumb pipe, they are the best option by a mile. I’m certain PE is going to screw this up, but I’m hoping they don’t screw it up enough that I have to go back to Spectrum.”
“Begun, the enshittification has,” said another.