Amazon Kicks Off a Jumbo 7-Part Bond Sale Including 40-Year Debt

Josyana Joshua, Bloomberg News

Amazon.com Inc. signage is displayed in front of a warehouse in the Staten Island borough of New York, U.S., on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Some employees at Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse walked off the job on Monday, calling for the company to shut the facility for extended cleaning after they say a number of their colleagues were diagnosed with Covid-19. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. is offering investment-grade bonds for general corporate purposes that may include repaying debt as well as funding acquisitions and share buybacks in its first note sale in about a year.

The online retail giant is selling senior unsecured bonds in as many as seven parts, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The longest portion of the offering is a 40-year security that may yield 1.55 percentage points over Treasuries, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the details are private.

Read more: New Deal: Amazon $Benchmark Debt Offering in Seven Parts

Amazon last tapped the U.S. debt market when it sold $18.5 billion of bonds in May, also for general corporate purposes that included possible refinancing of debt and share repurchases. The 40-year security on that deal priced to yield 95 basis points over Treasuries.

While yields have jumped since then, selling debt now makes sense because borrowing costs may be headed even higher as the Federal Reserve fights inflation and tightens the money supply.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan & Chase Co. and Morgan Stanley are managing the sale.