Netflix stock plunges after subscriber losses

New York CNN Business — Netflix’s bad 2022 just got muchworse. In its letter to investors, the company said that since it launched streaming in 2007, the company has “operated under the firm belief that internet-delivered, on demand entertainment will supplant linear TV,” But, it added, in the near term “we’re not growing revenue as fast as we’d like.” Netflix said that the pandemic “clouded the picture by significantly increasing our growth in 2020, leading us to believe that most of our slowing growth in 2021 was due to the Covid pull forward.” But there are many different factors behind its subscriber stagnation, including competition from traditional media companies that have gotten into the streaming market in recent years, as well as widespread password sharing. The company also blamed “macro factors” that are affecting many companies right now, such as “sluggish economic growth, increasing inflation, geopolitical events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and some continued disruption from Covid are likely having an impact as well.” Netflix said that pulling out of Russia cost the company 700,000 subscribers. The company added that it’s “doubling down on story development and creative excellence” and that it launched the “double thumbs up” tool that will allow members to “better express what they truly love versus simply like.” Netflix also said it will focus more on “how best to monetize sharing” in terms of passwords. “While these have been very popular, they’ve created confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared with other households.” The company said last month that over the last year, it’s been working on ways to “enable members who share outside their household to do so easily and securely, while also paying a bit more.” “While we won’t be able to monetize all of it right now, we believe it’s a large short- to mid-term opportunity,” it said.