Once again, Netflix is looking to raise more money through debt financing, presumably so it can pump out new TV shows at a faster rate. The company plans to offer $1.5 billion in debt notes, marking the fifth time in a little over three years that Netflix has used $1 billion-plus bonds to fuel its original content ambitions, Variety notes.
Incidentally, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings floated the idea of further price hikes during an earnings call last week. “You really have to earn it first by doing spectacular content that everybody wants to see,” Hastings said. Although Netflix isn’t raising prices anytime soon–the last increase occurred less than six months ago–a glut of new programming could make future price hikes more palatable while cementing the service’s lead in the streaming video wars.
This year, Netflix plans to spend between $7.5 billion and $8 billion on programming, up from about $6 billion in 2017.
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