The Last Company to Issue a 100-Year Bond Was Motorola. It Didn't End Well
Google’s parent company just did something that even most governments won’t do. It issued a 100-year bond.
The century bond targeted the UK and helped them raise £1 billion.
Depending on who you ask, this is either brilliant corporate finance or a flashing warning sign.
The Bull Case
UK pension funds and insurers face chronic shortages of ultra-long-duration assets to match their 50+ year liabilities. Alphabet spotted this demand pocket and filled it, securing funding at attractive rates in a niche where competition is low.
The 100-year note drew explosive demand. It attracted nearly 10 times the demand, with £9.5 billion in orders for the £1 billion on offer.
From Alphabet’s perspective, this diversifies their funding base away from what’s becoming an increasingly crowded dollar bond market. With $185 billion in planned expenses this year and peers like Oracle, Amazon, and Microsoft all spending at scale, avoiding saturation in any single currency makes sense.
The Bear Case
Country issuers can print money. Corporate borrowers can’t. Alphabet in 2025 is one of the most dominant companies on Earth, but anyone buying a 100-year bond is making an implicit bet that the company will still be relevant in 2125. That’s a genuine leap of faith.
The last major US corporation to issue a 100-year bond was Motorola, in 1997. And 1997 was essentially the last year Motorola was considered relevant.
At the start of 1997, Motorola was a top-25 company in America by both market cap and revenue. Its corporate brand was ranked #1 in the US ahead of Microsoft. It was, by any measure, one of the most dominant and innovative companies in the world.
Then things changed fast. In 1998, Nokia overtook Motorola in cell phones. A decade later, the iPhone obliterated what was left of its consumer relevance. Today, Motorola is the 232nd largest company by market cap with just $11 billion in annual sales.
Nobody buying that century bond in 1997 imagined they were lending to a company that would become an afterthought within a decade. Google’s competitive position today is arguably stronger than Motorola’s ever was. But it’s a reminder of what 100 years actually means, and how quickly companies can become “irrelevant” in technology. Dominance today doesn’t guarantee immortality.