By Senad Karaahmetovic
Facebook owner Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) said it secured $10 billion in its first-ever bond offering as the social media company seeks share repurchases and funding to overhaul its business.
The social media company expects the move will allow it to develop a more traditional balance sheet and finance some lucrative investments in the future, including its plan to build a metaverse world.
Meta’s bond offering comes after rivals Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and chipmaker Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) also issued bonds and secured $5.5 billion and $6 billion, respectively.
The Menlo Park, California-based company issued a downbeat forecast and reported its first-ever quarterly revenue decline last month as recession concerns and intensifying competition hurt its digital ads sales.
Last week, Meta Platforms was assigned an A1 issuer rating at Moody’s. The outlook is stable.
“The A1 issuer rating is based on Meta’s strong credit profile which reflects the leading global position of its platform brands in social networking, supported by its extensive user base,” Moody’s said.