Spencer Neumann: Last News

Netflix said ongoing Hollywood strikes are bad for business and the company is focused on getting back to work.

Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann gave Scott Stuber a shoutout when discussing the state of the streaming giant’s film operation, saying the exec deserves “a lot of credit” for “what he built.”

Netflix said today it plans to award its co-chief operating officers identical compensation packages for 2024 worth $40 million each.

Wall Street reviews of Netflix’ latest earnings ranged from upbeat to more cautiously optimistic, with the latter taking hold today after a major jump in net new subscribers failed to ignite sales last quarter.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In a symbolic rebuke of Netflix’s top executives, company shareholders voted against approving the compensation packages of leaders including co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. At the streamer’s June 1 annual shareholders meeting, investors failed to approve the proposed exec pay packages for 2023. But the vote was a non-binding “say on pay” measure, meaning Netflix’s board can disregard the result. The vote came after the WGA had urged investors to vote against Netflix’s exec compensation measures in a letter Tuesday. “While investors have long taken issue with Netflix’s executive pay, the compensation structure is more egregious against the backdrop of the strike,” WGA West president Meredith Stiehm wrote in the letter to Netflix shareholders.

Netflix has hired PayPal veteran Jeffrey Karbowski, 45, as VP and Chief Accounting Officer.

Netflix is spending around $17B on content this year and next but has hinted that it may boost this after a strong quarter.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix’s recently hired principal accounting officer, former EA finance exec Ken Barker, has resigned after about three months on the job. Barker, who reported to CFO Spencer Neumann, submitted his resignation on Thursday and will depart the company on Oct. 7, Netflix disclosed in an SEC filing. “Mr. Barker’s resignation was a personal decision and is not the result of any disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the company’s financials, operations, policies or practices,” Netflix said in the filing. With Barker’s exit, Neumann will assume the role of principal accounting officer (and he will not receive any additional compensation for those duties) while the company searches for a permanent replacement. Previously, the primary accounting exec at Netflix was JC Berger, VP of finance and global controller, who left the company in June after 15 years.

Ken Barker, the principal accounting officer at Netflix, has resigned from the company just three months after he arrived.

Netflix executives see content spending of about $17 billion in 2021 lingering there for the next several year through 2023.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNetflix has tapped longtime finance executive Ken Barker in a new role as principal accounting officer, assuming the duties from CFO Spencer Neumann.Netflix revealed the hiring of Barker in an SEC filing Monday. Barker starts at Netflix on June 27, reporting to Neumann, who continues to serve as the company’s chief financial officer and principal financial officer.Barker, 55, comes from games company Electronic Arts, most recently as senior VP finance since August 2021, and as SVP and chief accounting officer from June 2003 to August 2021.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorThe battlegrounds in the streaming wars are shifting fast, just as real-life battle lines are being dug out in Eastern Europe.Russia has drawn near-universal condemnation because of its unprovoked attack on its neighbor Ukraine, launching a war with the country. The conflict has also rattled world markets and made investors nervous about geopolitical instability as the entertainment industry is banking more than ever before on the value of building platforms with global reach.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNetflix execs have regularly insisted that there’s no way the company would introduce an ad-supported service.Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann, speaking Tuesday at an investor conference, took a slightly more open tone: He noted that the subscription streamer doesn’t currently have any plans right now to introduce an ad-supported VOD plan, but he didn’t rule it out at some point in the future.“It’s not like we have religion against advertising, to be clear,” said Neumann, speaking Tuesday at Morgan Stanley’s 2022 Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. “But that’s not something that’s in our plans right now… We have a really nice scalable subscription model, and again, never say never, but it’s not in our plan.” During the session, Neumann was asked about Netflix’s thinking about a cheaper, ad-based tier after Disney announced plans to rollout an AVOD plan for Disney Plus starting late in 2022 in the U.S.

The Netflix team played it cool Thursday as CFO Spencer Neumann attempted to reassure Wall Street that “there’s no structural change in the business that we see.”

Netflix has hired former Facebook and Electronic Arts exec Mike Verdu to bolster its move into gaming. He joins as VP of Game Development, Deadline has confirmed.

Netflix scored a big haul of Oscar nominations this year – 35 in total – putting the streamer in the top three for a studio in the history of the awards.

Activision Blizzard has reportedly hit streaming giant Netflix with a new lawsuit for poaching of one of its top executives.In the lawsuit filing, obtained by Deadline, Activision Blizzard alleged that Netflix poached its former CFO, Spencer Neumann, back in 2018.Per the filing, Activision claimed that Netflix “unapologetically recruits talent without regard to its ethical and legal obligations,” and engages in “years-long campaign of unlawfully poaching executives from Netflix’s competitors regardless of their contractual obligations”.Activision said this practice “intentionally disregards well-established California law, including the California Labor Code itself, which expressly recognises and permits the enforcement of employment

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterNetflix is the target of yet another employee-poaching lawsuit.In a suit on Friday, Activision Blizzard accused the streamer of showing “contempt” for state employment law when it poached the company’s chief financial officer two years ago.Netflix has been sued twice before — by Fox and Viacom — for allegedly luring away employees who are in the middle of fixed-term contracts.In the latest case, Activision alleges that Netflix hired away CFO Spencer Neumann when he was less than two years into a three-year contract.“Netflix has demonstrated a pattern of caring only about attracting and employing whoever Netflix wants, regardless of whether it violates the law along the way,” Activision’s lawyers allege.