Meta Just Paid 7.5% to Borrow for 30 Years as Bond Sale Drew $58 Billion in Orders
Meta just raised billions in bonds as investors lined up with nearly four times what was asked, yet lenders charged a price the company has never paid before. What that growing tab means for shareholders depends on a few triggers…
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META | META Price Prediction) priced $15 billion of senior notes in five series, settling November 5. The longest series, $2.75 billion of notes due November 15, 2056, carries a 7.500% coupon. It sold at 99.629% of face value, so buyers get a 7.531% yield.
Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed people, that orders reached as much as $58 billion, or about 3.9 times the deal size. Investors still wanted the bonds, but they charged a much higher price.
Meta stock rose 2.36%, or $14.30, to close at $621.03, for a market value of $1.375 trillion. It then slipped 0.42% to $618.44 after hours, and nothing links the gain to the bond sale.
What Meta Committed To Versus What It Only Floated
| Maturity | Size | Coupon | Spread (bp) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2031 | $3.25 billion | 5.850% | 110 |
| 2033 | $3.25 billion | 6.250% | 145 |
| 2036 | $4 billion | 6.550% | 160 |
| 2046 | $1.75 billion | 7.350% | 200 |
| 2056 | $2.75 billion | 7.500% | 220 |
The spread is the extra yield over Treasuries, measured in basis points (hundredths of a percentage point). Only the 2056 notes pay the 7.5% coupon, and the other four series pay less.
The dollar notes are one part of a planned raise of at least $20 billion. A first-ever euro sale is planned for as soon as November 4. On that sale, Meta’s prospectus says only that it “may launch an offering of euro-denominated notes” and that “There can be no assurance that the Concurrent Securities Offering will be launched or completed.”
Moody’s rates the new notes Aa3 with a stable outlook. S&P rates them AA- with a negative outlook.
Same Borrower, Much Higher Price
Meta’s 30-year notes from April paid 6.300% at a spread of 132 basis points, and its October 2025 notes paid 5.625% at a spread of 98 basis points. The long-bond spread has more than doubled in about a year, and the coupon is up 1.875 percentage points.
Treasury yields rose too, so spreads give the better comparison. Meta’s 30-year yield is 1.221 points higher than in April. Higher Treasury yields account for 0.341 of that rise, and Meta’s wider spread accounts for 0.88.
Spreads widened at all five maturities that match the April deal, from 57 basis points on the 2031 notes to 88 on the 2056 notes. Demand held up, as orders covered the deal 3.87 times, compared with 3.84 times in April and about 4.17 times in October 2025.
Why Ratings Agencies Are Watching Meta’s Balance Sheet
On September 30, Meta held $82.449 billion in cash and marketable securities and $80.922 billion of long-term debt. The two are now nearly matched, largely because of Meta’s 2026 capital spending plan of $135 billion to $145 billion.
S&P’s negative outlook projects free operating cash flow deficits of $22 billion, $71 billion, and $39 billion for 2026 through 2028. It also projects leverage of 1.1x in 2027 and 1.3x in 2028, above its 1.0x downgrade threshold.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is selling 6 billion euros of notes, and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) priced a $25 billion deal days earlier. Big Tech is paying for AI with borrowed money, and lenders are charging more.
What Meta’s Costlier Borrowing Means for Shareholders
Meta can likely carry this debt. All five series add about $990 million a year in interest, which is small compared with $32.79 billion in third-quarter operating cash flow. Revenue also grew 26.07%.
The shares trade at about 23 times earnings, a moderate price. Still, each new bond will likely cost more while S&P’s outlook remains negative.
For income-focused investors, the 2056 notes lock in 7.531% if you hold them to maturity. In exchange, you give up any gain if the stock rises, the bonds lose value if long-term interest rates rise, and you take on 30 years of risk that Meta’s finances weaken.
Keep an eye on the euro sale, planned for as soon as November 4. If S&P downgrades Meta or the stock closes below its $520.26 52-week low, that would likely show the borrowing is costing shareholders more than it is making.
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Omor Ibne Ehsan is a writer at 24/7 Wall St. He is a self-taught investor with a focus on growth, cyclical, and dividend equities that have strong fundamentals, value, and long-term potential. He also has an interest in high-risk, high-reward investments such as penny stocks.
