Netflix Loses 800K Subscribers in Third Quarter
Netflix, the one-time master of customer service, just can’t seem to get it right anymore. On Monday, the video rental giant revealed in its third quarter report that it has lost about 800,000 subscribers since June, and the company expects to lose more in the coming months.
According to Netflix Inc. CEO Reed Hastings, the company believes its future is in the streaming of its video content, so he was prepared for a steady decline of DVD-by-mail customers. This new revelation caused shares of Netflix to take a 35-percent dive in trading on Tuesday.
The company experienced a mass exodus of subscribers starting in July, when it announced a price hike of almost 60 percent. It then made accessing its content more complicated by splitting the accounts of those customers who wanted both the DVD-by-mail and streaming options. Netflix has since abandoned its Qwikster streaming service and reinstated both mail and streaming account options, but the decision may have been too late.
Netflix Inc. did report better-than-expected financial results for the third quarter, but with company stock down to $76.19 a share, from nearly $300 just three and a half months ago, the market appears to be focused on the massive amount of subscriber cancellations for now.