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Just six months after the addition of Chronicle to of (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) stable of growing subsidiaries, two others are set to become independent companies. Loon and Wing will join the Other Bets segment of the holding, according to Captain Alphabet's moonshots (yes, that's his real name), Astro Teller (yes, that's his real name).
Loon was invented by Google as a way to provide Internet in rural areas with balloons. Wing develops a new innovative autonomous UAV delivery system for freight transportation
A Loon internet balloon. Source of the image: Loon.
Not so loony anymore
While Project Loon initially seemed rather loony, the company is clearly on something. Loon basically lifts cellular antennas that are typically mounted on cell towers, expanding their range. The balloons are about the size of a tennis court and are designed to withstand extreme weather conditions.
After Hurricane Maria pbaded last year in Puerto Rico, Loon is badociated with wireless operators. As a result of a flood in Peru a few months before Hurricane Maria, Loon also stepped in to help ensure connectivity.
A week ago, Kenya said it was in talks with Loon to deploy Internet balloons to link these. rural areas, according to Reuters. Kenyan Minister of Information, Communication and Technology, Joe Mucheru, said: "The Loon team is still working on contracts and I hope that once done, we will be able to see almost all areas of the country covered. "
a very real opportunity to supplement and / or compete with the existing industry of cell towers.
Winging it
Many companies have explored the idea of autonomous delivery of drones in recent years, including Amazon.com . Unlike Internet balloons, the autonomous delivery of UAVs is not a wacky idea that seems to be drawn from science fiction, but rather a natural evolution of potential use cases for drones.
The business opportunities for autonomous UAV delivery will not be missed, as the technology has the potential to dramatically reduce costs and greenhouse gas emissions while improving delivery speed. Wing is also developing a Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) platform to help manage the inevitable problem of air traffic congestion. The platform can manage and coordinate complex flight trajectories of many UAVs while monitoring theft of aircraft, according to Wing
Joining Other Bets
Like other affiliates of Alphabet, Loon and Wing will operate independently under the umbrella of Alphabet and will be free to make their own operational decisions. Alphabet names Alastair Westgarth as Loon's CEO and James Ryan Burgess becomes Wing's CEO
Nest recently dropped out of Other Bets to be reinstated in Google (a process that involved the release of Nest's financial results for the first time) . The Other Bets segment was much smaller, generating only $ 150 million in revenue for a $ 571 million operating loss in the first quarter.
John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an affiliate of Amazon, is a member of The Motley Fool Board of Directors. Suzanne Frey, executive at Alphabet, is a board member of The Motley Fool. Evan Niu, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares and recommends Alphabet (A Shares), Alphabet (C Shares) and AMZN. The Fool Motley has a disclosure policy.
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