Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) looks clean. The balance sheet says about $14.5 billion in debt. The stock is hovering near $100. Nothing alarming. Nothing screaming leverage. But that’s only if you take the accounting at face value.
Because sitting just off the balance sheet is something far more interesting — and arguably just as real: $7.4 billion worth of in-the-money stock options, The Information reported.
The $7.4B That Doesn’t Count (But Maybe Should)
As of year-end, Netflix had roughly 127.7 million vested options outstanding, with an average exercise price of just $36.07. With the stock now near $100, that gap translates into billions of embedded value — or cost, depending on how you look at it.
Netflix itself pegs that value at $7.4 billion.
Under current accounting, that doesn’t …
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