Netflix Stock Plunges At Open After Earnings Shocker, Sheds Billions In Market Value

deadline.com:

Netflix stock crashed at the market opening today, down by 35%, shedding well over $50 billion in market value after its latest earnings and commentary late Tuesday spooked investors.Plans to launch an advertising tier and to crack down on password sharing didn’t assuage Wall Street because they aren’t quick fixes for a streaming business that appears to lack clarity now after the longtime high-flying industry leader reported softer-than-expected subscriber numbers for the three months ended in March and predicted an historic sub decline for the current quarter.

Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeff Wlodarczak called the sub numbers “shocking.”If the stock dip holds for the session, it will be the company’s biggest daily share decline in a decade.Netlix said yesterday its global subscriber base declined by 200,000 from where the company ended 2021, a rare reversal and far from the internal projection of 2.5 million additions in the period.

It’s also the first negative move for subscriber levels in more than a decade. Netflix also said it expects to post a loss of another 2 million in the June quarter.Wall Streeters were alarmed equally by the numbers as by management’s apparent surprise at the downturn in the business.

Execs cited a handful of factors they believe are behind the company’s inability to return to pre-Covid growth levels after a spurt in signups during the pandemic, from new rivals to macro impacts and slower smart TV deployment.