No they just got themselves in troubleThe news comes after the company was shaken by a sell off of its bonds over the summer.Company bonds are a type of debt issued by a business to raise money from investors.Investors raced to sell their Virgin Media O2 bonds, which caused their price to drop sharply. Many were worried about the company’s ability to service a £22billion debt pile as it battles a wave of competition from smaller fibre networks.The company has built up this debt due to corporate mergers, infrastructure upgrades and its financial strategy.The sell off put pressure on the company’s £1.1billion senior unsecured debt, which is a type of borrowing that must be repaid if a company goes bankrupt.The sell off pushed the price of a $925million bond down to 61 cents on the dollar yesterday. In comparison, the bond had been trading at about 78 cents at the start of July.As a result, the company’s two owners are weighing up options to reduce its debt, according to the Financial Times.They are also considering cutting its £100million dividend, which is a share of a company’s profit that is paid to shareholders.But insiders have told the FT that no formal proposals have yet been put to Virgin Media O2.The company, which has 5.5million UK customers, has suffered losses amid the rise of smaller broadband companies, called altnets.Competition from these firms has caused Virgin to lose 33,500 broadband customers in the first half of 2026, in addition to the 138,400 it lost last year.
Michael Brigo ● 2d