Netflix says it plans to raise another $2 billion in debt ahead of an upsurge in competition from the likes of Disney, Apple and NBC.
The streamer indicated it would use the junk bond issue for “content, production and development and potential acquisitions”.
Its routinely increased debt in order to back new content – something that will become increasingly important as rival services claw back shows previously released to Netflix. Already deals on Friends and The Office have not been renewed.
In its quarterly letter to shareholders Netflix last week, Netflix said the launch of new services would be noisy, but it was only expecting modest headwinds.
“Many are focused on the “streaming wars,” but we’ve been competing with streamers (Amazon, YouTube, Hulu) as well as linear TV for over a decade.
“The upcoming arrival of services like Disney+, Apple TV+, HBO Max, and Peacock is increased competition, but we are all small compared to linear TV. While the new competitors have some great titles (especially catalogue titles), none have the variety, diversity and quality of new original programming that we are producing around the world.”
