Netflix shares fall more than 35% after streamer loses over 200,000 subscribers

theguardian.com:

Shares of Netflix lost more than 35% of their value in New York on Wednesday morning, after the streaming giant announced it had lost more than 200,000 subscribers in the first three months of the year and said it and expects to lose 2 million more over the next quarter.

The sharp drop in value – the largest for the service in over a decade – comes as subscribers rethink their commitment to streaming services that grew their numbers sharply during the homebound months of peak lockdown. Netflix had anticipated it would add 2.5 million customers in the first quarter.

A number of rival services, including Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount, often with deeper content libraries to draw on, have also entered the market. Netflix stock, which was already down 40% for the year, has now dropped from $700 in November to $244 when the market opened, a fall approaching two-thirds.

The company said on Tuesday that it had experienced “revenue growth headwinds”. It recently raised subscription prices despite signs that consumer growth was slowing, with a basic monthly package now costing US customers $15.49.

“We’re definitely feeling higher levels of market penetration … and heightened competition,” said Ted Sarandos, co-chief executive.

In terms of capitalization, Netflix is now worth $109bn, a figure that will make it more difficult for its Los Gatos, California-based management to raise money to fund the investment for content production upon which subscriber growth has been dependent.

The confluence of negative forces, from the lifting of the pandemic, the loss of 700,000 subscribers in Russia, high consumer inflation in many leading markets forcing households to rethink their budgets, have hit the service.

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