(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc. is releasing two experimental projects from its X lab, adding new independent businesses to its growing roster of non-advertising entities.
Wing, which is developing a drone delivery system, and Loon, which uses balloons to bring internet signals to remote parts of the world, will graduate from the company's "moonshot" lab and become full-fledged businesses under its Other Bets unit, a spokeswoman for X said in an email. Other Bets already includes businesses like self-driving car unit Waymo, cybersecurity company Chronicle and life sciences company Verily.
Alphabet wouldn't say whether Loon and Wing are generating revenue or profit, but a move out of the innovation lab suggests the two projects have become established enough to at least have a clear business plan and path to profit. Alphabet pours billions each year into Other Bets, which had an operating loss of $3.6 billion in 2017. The company argues the spending is justified because any of the individual projects could become major businesses in their own right over time.
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“Loon and Wing are two of X's best experiments,” Astro Teller, who heads X, said in a video post. “Today, unlike when they started as X projects, Loon and Wing seem a long way from crazy.”
Alphabet named Loon and Wing's project leaders, Alastair Westgarth and James Ryan Burgess, as heads of the new units.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gerrit De Vynck in New York at gdevynck@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz, Nate Lanxon
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