It’s been a rough couple of days for the nation’s most popular online streaming service.
CNBC: “Shares of Netflix taking a big hit ... ”
MSNBC: “Netflix’s stock tumbling.”
FOX BUSINESS: “Netflix is down over 100 bucks!”
Netflix shares dropped a whopping 26 percent after its earnings report was released late Wednesday driving its stock price backward by more than $100.
And Netflix added approximately 980,000 users this quarter which is about 300,000 less than the streaming service added this time last year. (Video via Netflix)
Many are citing that weak subscriber growth as the major problem scaring away investors.
“People wanna see them growing at a really rapid clip and this basically shows you something is going on with the consumer to make them tighten their belt.”
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells blame the $1 increase in subscriber price for the drop in new users. “Slightly higher prices result in slightly less growth, other things being equal, and this is manifested more clearly in higher adoption markets such as the U.S.”
But with HBO’s announcement of a stand-alone service coming just hours before this earnings report, it’s not far fetched to suggest HBO’s news could have played a role in Netflix’s dive as well. (Video via HBO)
But despite any and all bad news, Netflix continues to expand its reach with the company’s largest new venture coming in Europe where Netflix has made an aggressive launch into six different countries.
Netflix announced Wednesday the acquisition of the incredibly popular “Friends” series and are reportedly in talks to acquire streaming rights for “Seinfeld.” (Video via Warner Bros. / "Friends")
It also has signed a deal with Adam Sandler for four original films and has plans to produce a “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” sequel.
Moral of the story? If this is what Netflix looks like when it’s down, down doesn’t look so bad.
This video includes images from Getty Images.
