Subscribers help boost Netflix
NetFlix has released its quarterly financial earnings - and the surge in customers seems to have buoyed profits. NetFlix has released its quarterly financial earnings - and the surge in customers seems to have buoyed profits.
New York - The movie rental service Netflix reported better-than-expected quarterly profit, fuelled by rapid subscriber growth that shows no sign of letting up this year.
Shares of Netflix rose 7 percent after its quarterly results, marking yet another big jump for a company whose stock has nearly quadrupled in the past year as it shakes up Hollywood's traditional business models.
Netflix's results Wednesday showed - once again - that a company traditionally associated with delivering its customers movies and TV shows through the mail in bright red envelopes is having little trouble keeping up with changing media tastes.
Fourth-quarter profit soared past expectations and it added roughly 500 000 more subscribers than analysts on average had expected.
Netflix's total subscriber base now stands at 20 million, making it the third largest US video subscription service behind only Comcast and DirecTV.
It said it should end the first quarter with between 21.9 million and 22.8 million domestic subscribers, adding that it expects the addition ``to continue to grow in 2011.'' It also offered first-quarter profit and revenue forecasts ahead of analyst estimates.
Overall, it posted fourth-quarter earnings of $47.1-million, or 87 cents a share - up from $30.9-million, or 56 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose to 34 percent to $596-million.
``We would say that our huge subscriber growth, fuelled by the excitement of watching instantly, impressed even us,” Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said in a letter to shareholders on Wednesday. - Reuters