Gross debt is the nominal value of all of the debts and similar obligations a company has on its balance sheet. If the difference between net debt and gross debt is large, it indicates a large cash balance along with significant debt, which could be a red flag.  Net debt removes cash and cash equivalents from the amount of debt, which is useful when calculating enterprise value (EV) or when a company seeks to make an acquisition. This is because a company is not interested in spending cash to acquire cash. Rather, the net debt will give a better estimate of the takeover value.