6 ms·

It should also be noted that the CMO who originally greenlit this "publication" (that no one else in the company really understood or seemed aware of) left the

It should also be noted that the CMO who originally greenlit this "publication" (that no one else in the company really understood or seemed aware of) left the company in March. So I look at this sort of layoff as not strictly indicative of the broader Netflix concerns (which are real and valid), but just as much about the executive sponsor of a project going away, and thus the project being dropped. Unfortunately, I think we will see actual Netflix layoffs in the future, especially as they have to to deal with loss of subscribers, lower investor confidence, and the fact that Wall Street is finally making them answer for those bloated content budgets, but I don't look at this very small, and seemingly largely focused group of layoffs as a canary in the coal mine as much as some of the trade publications (that frankly, should know better), are trying to frame this.

mikkergp 4y ago
Business seems hard. They've gone from a company that was fiscally irresponsible but beloved by customers to one that is MBA led and customer hostile. Curious if this strategy will work (in the long run, doesn't seem so great in the short run)
- teej 4y ago
  "Netflix sunsets an online publication about Netflix shows that no one has ever heard of or read" is not the MBA-led apocalypse you make it out to be.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- IMTDb 4y ago
  Netflix was beloved by customers because they were fiscally irresponsible. Users were getting more for their money than what they paid. Similarly, Uber was absolutely loved by customers when trips were only costing a fraction of what Uber paid for them, aka: VC were effectively paying for a portion of your trip. Of course that was unsustainable on the long term, and two thing happen: quality will decrease and price will increase until the company can reach profitability which is necessary, at some point, to keep operating. For both Uber and Netflix, this is associated with less customer love since value-per-dollar decreases. But there is no question that the strategy has to be tried, because the previous strategy was - in fact - not working.
  - mjr00 4y ago
    > Similarly, Uber was absolutely loved by customers when trips were only costing a fraction of what Uber paid for them, aka: VC were effectively paying for a portion of your trip. As a regular though infrequent user of Uber, in the last place in North America where Uber was legalized (Vancouver CA), the lower prices were probably 10% of why people liked Uber. 90% of it was that it was simply light years ahead of the competing experience of: calling a cab, waiting for them to show, except they don't show, so you walk around downtown at 2am trying to find a cab with a light on... Yeah, surge pricing sucks and the prices have gone up and all that, but even if Uber were more expensive than cabs -- and it very well may be at this point -- I'm still more than willing to pay extra just to be able to order a ride home from my app, and actually see that it's coming and not ghosting me.
    - lupire 4y ago
      Car services existed (that were not cabs), as did other ride-sharing services that didn't have VC money to burn.
      - arebop 4y ago
        Yes, and I became a user of Uber (ubercab in those days) because I preferred being able to book a ride just-in-time using the app rather than well in advance on the telephone, not because it was much cheaper than the car service or the taxis (as I recall, Uber and the car service cost about the same in those days, which was slightly more expensive the taxis for much more reliability and a better UX).
    - aprdm 4y ago
      From Vancouver , the yellow cab app has actually improved quite a bit, Uber is so expensive nowadays it’s insane
      - mjr00 4y ago
        Yeah fair enough, there's more competition now. Still, pre-Uber things were just dire. The BC government was extremely openly corrupt and gave the taxi industry a headstart and tens of millions of dollars to make the Kater app, and it was still completely unusable (and now shut down). Before we got Lyft/Uber you were stuck either using extremely unreliable Yellow Cab dispatch, or using the shady probably-illegal Mandarin-only app that I forget the name of.
- aeyes 4y ago
  Fiscally irresponsible? I am looking at this graph and they have been profitable since their IPO. Looks like they started tweaking knobs to be highly profitable 4 years ago. From an investor perspective, I see nothing wrong with the business. It's just that it isn't growing subscribers anymore but profit per share is still going up. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NFLX/netflix/net-income https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NFLX/netflix/net-i...
  - scarface74 4y ago
    Now check out how much money they borrowed ever year to produce and acquire content. https://www.barrons.com/articles/netflix-is-borrowing-another-2-billion-investors-dont-seem-to-mind-51556117655 https://www.barrons.com/articles/netflix-is-borrowing-anothe... That just changed last year.
    - aeyes 4y ago
      Debt, especially low interest debt, is not a bad investment if it is used to grow the company. Since content is the only differentiator in the streaming market, this looks like a good investment. An IPO is a form of taking on debt but issuing more shares is not the only way to take on debt. If no debt was required to grow the company and be profitable, the company could have stayed private. Of course this doesn't work because early investors want to see some returns after 5-10 years and an IPO is the obvious way to cash them out.
      - scarface74 4y ago
        Netflix’s debt is considered “junk” which is definitely not low interest. https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/netflix-raises-2-2-billion-junk-bonds-1203197332/ https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/netflix-raises-2-2-bil... What do they have to show for it as far as valuable IP? They spent most of it on temporary licensing deals.

mikkergp 4y ago

Business seems hard. They've gone from a company that was fiscally irresponsible but beloved by customers to one that is MBA led and customer hostile. Curious if this strategy will work (in the long run, doesn't seem so great in the short run)

teej 4y ago
"Netflix sunsets an online publication about Netflix shows that no one has ever heard of or read" is not the MBA-led apocalypse you make it out to be.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
IMTDb 4y ago
Netflix was beloved by customers because they were fiscally irresponsible. Users were getting more for their money than what they paid. Similarly, Uber was absolutely loved by customers when trips were only costing a fraction of what Uber paid for them, aka: VC were effectively paying for a portion of your trip. Of course that was unsustainable on the long term, and two thing happen: quality will decrease and price will increase until the company can reach profitability which is necessary, at some point, to keep operating. For both Uber and Netflix, this is associated with less customer love since value-per-dollar decreases. But there is no question that the strategy has to be tried, because the previous strategy was - in fact - not working.
- mjr00 4y ago
  > Similarly, Uber was absolutely loved by customers when trips were only costing a fraction of what Uber paid for them, aka: VC were effectively paying for a portion of your trip. As a regular though infrequent user of Uber, in the last place in North America where Uber was legalized (Vancouver CA), the lower prices were probably 10% of why people liked Uber. 90% of it was that it was simply light years ahead of the competing experience of: calling a cab, waiting for them to show, except they don't show, so you walk around downtown at 2am trying to find a cab with a light on... Yeah, surge pricing sucks and the prices have gone up and all that, but even if Uber were more expensive than cabs -- and it very well may be at this point -- I'm still more than willing to pay extra just to be able to order a ride home from my app, and actually see that it's coming and not ghosting me.
  - lupire 4y ago
    Car services existed (that were not cabs), as did other ride-sharing services that didn't have VC money to burn.
    - arebop 4y ago
      Yes, and I became a user of Uber (ubercab in those days) because I preferred being able to book a ride just-in-time using the app rather than well in advance on the telephone, not because it was much cheaper than the car service or the taxis (as I recall, Uber and the car service cost about the same in those days, which was slightly more expensive the taxis for much more reliability and a better UX).
  - aprdm 4y ago
    From Vancouver , the yellow cab app has actually improved quite a bit, Uber is so expensive nowadays it’s insane
    - mjr00 4y ago
      Yeah fair enough, there's more competition now. Still, pre-Uber things were just dire. The BC government was extremely openly corrupt and gave the taxi industry a headstart and tens of millions of dollars to make the Kater app, and it was still completely unusable (and now shut down). Before we got Lyft/Uber you were stuck either using extremely unreliable Yellow Cab dispatch, or using the shady probably-illegal Mandarin-only app that I forget the name of.
aeyes 4y ago
Fiscally irresponsible? I am looking at this graph and they have been profitable since their IPO. Looks like they started tweaking knobs to be highly profitable 4 years ago. From an investor perspective, I see nothing wrong with the business. It's just that it isn't growing subscribers anymore but profit per share is still going up. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NFLX/netflix/net-income https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NFLX/netflix/net-i...
- scarface74 4y ago
  Now check out how much money they borrowed ever year to produce and acquire content. https://www.barrons.com/articles/netflix-is-borrowing-another-2-billion-investors-dont-seem-to-mind-51556117655 https://www.barrons.com/articles/netflix-is-borrowing-anothe... That just changed last year.
  - aeyes 4y ago
    Debt, especially low interest debt, is not a bad investment if it is used to grow the company. Since content is the only differentiator in the streaming market, this looks like a good investment. An IPO is a form of taking on debt but issuing more shares is not the only way to take on debt. If no debt was required to grow the company and be profitable, the company could have stayed private. Of course this doesn't work because early investors want to see some returns after 5-10 years and an IPO is the obvious way to cash them out.
    - scarface74 4y ago
      Netflix’s debt is considered “junk” which is definitely not low interest. https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/netflix-raises-2-2-billion-junk-bonds-1203197332/ https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/netflix-raises-2-2-bil... What do they have to show for it as far as valuable IP? They spent most of it on temporary licensing deals.