Amazon returns to the debt market three years later. The American e-commerce and services giant cloud has launched a bond issue for an amount of at least 12 billion dollars (more than 10,350 million euros) and is joining the race of large technology companies to raise new resources to finance their growth in the field of artificial intelligence.
In the placement, which includes Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as underwriters, Amazon has established six tranches, according to the report sent to the Securities Commission (SEC), without specifying either the amounts or the deadlines.
The tech giant explains that it intends to use the net proceeds from the sale of the bonds for general corporate purposes, which could include, among others, the payment of debt, acquisitions, investments and share buybacks, in the latter case the main means of remunerating shareholders (so far the company has excluded the payment of dividends).
Amazon, which has an investment grade rating, plans to issue 40-year bonds, a maturity period also used by companies such as Oracle.
The operation launched by Amazon comes a few days after Alphabet placed $25 billion in debt. Meta also issued $30 billion in corporate bonds last month, the largest such issuance so far this year, while Oracle placed $18 billion in bonds in September.
This wave of issuances by technology companies, aimed at financing their growth in the artificial intelligence sector, has contributed to global issuances reaching a record of more than six trillion dollars this year.
Amazon shares showed almost no changes in this Monday’s session. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has risen by 6%, to $233, giving the company founded by Jeff Bezos a market capitalization close to $2,500 billion.
Amazon, which is also promoting its future satellite communications service, expects its investment to top $147 billion next year, nearly triple the figure recorded in 2023, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. With the new transaction, according to JPMorgan, the company, which until now depended on its own cash flow to finance investments, will incorporate this debt into its capital structure to improve its financial flexibility.
The company announced net income of $21,187 million in the third quarter, a figure that represents an improvement of 38.2% compared to the same period last year. Turnover reached 180,169 million, 13.4% more, thanks above all to the growth cloud.
Despite strong growth, Amazon confirmed at the end of October its plan to reduce its workforce by 14,000 employees worldwide. The restructuring will focus on workers performing administrative and clerical tasks.
The workforce restructuring will affect its operations in Spain, where the company has proposed an ERE for 1,200 workers at its corporate headquarters in Madrid and Barcelona.
