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Remember back when Netflix wanted to split its DVD shipping business and its streaming business into two companies. The DVD shipping business would’ve been cal

Remember back when Netflix wanted to split its DVD shipping business and its streaming business into two companies. The DVD shipping business would’ve been called Qwikster. Guess it would’ve died today had it happened. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-netflix-idUSTRE78I23B20110919 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-netflix-idUSTRE78I23B2011...

qqqwerty 4y ago
The NFLX share price dropped something like 70-80% after that announcement. At the time, I was a very happy subscriber and it occurred to me that, despite being on a DVD plan, I had only been watching via streaming for quite a while. Got a sense that the market might be overreacting and bought some shares. That turned out to be a great decision, my only regret was not buying more. I highly doubt that we are going to see that again this time around.
russellbeattie 4y ago
I have a story about that. It's a lesson about how you never know who you'll meet in Silicon Valley. My son was playing in one of the various non competitive soccer leagues here, and one of his volunteer coaches was a lovely woman who had mentioned she worked at Netflix. A day after the Qwikster debacle, after they announced they were abandoning the decision, my son had practice and while hanging out I happened to have a moment with the coach, and I said something along the lines of "Wow, so that was quite the screwup at Netflix, hey?" Complete with a stupid grin on my face. And she responded with sort of a sour face, "Well, you know, Reed really thought it was the right decision and we supported him." And then she walked away. Wait... "Reed?" "We?" Uh-oh. How bad did I just jam my foot into my mouth? Badly it turns out. I went home and looked her up and sure enough, she was a c-level exec and was obviously part of the decision. And here I am, one of the many moron parents she has to deal with as a volunteer coach seemingly mocking her about it at practice during what was probably a very bad week for her. I felt like a total ass. I apologized the next time I saw her, but you know, that doesn't really do much. I've since learned to not assume any more.
lIl-IIIl 4y ago
I remember it was quite a big deal and they got skewered at SNL over it: https://youtu.be/0eAXW-zkGlM https://youtu.be/0eAXW-zkGlM.

qqqwerty 4y ago

The NFLX share price dropped something like 70-80% after that announcement. At the time, I was a very happy subscriber and it occurred to me that, despite being on a DVD plan, I had only been watching via streaming for quite a while. Got a sense that the market might be overreacting and bought some shares. That turned out to be a great decision, my only regret was not buying more. I highly doubt that we are going to see that again this time around.

russellbeattie 4y ago

I have a story about that. It's a lesson about how you never know who you'll meet in Silicon Valley. My son was playing in one of the various non competitive soccer leagues here, and one of his volunteer coaches was a lovely woman who had mentioned she worked at Netflix. A day after the Qwikster debacle, after they announced they were abandoning the decision, my son had practice and while hanging out I happened to have a moment with the coach, and I said something along the lines of "Wow, so that was quite the screwup at Netflix, hey?" Complete with a stupid grin on my face. And she responded with sort of a sour face, "Well, you know, Reed really thought it was the right decision and we supported him." And then she walked away. Wait... "Reed?" "We?" Uh-oh. How bad did I just jam my foot into my mouth? Badly it turns out. I went home and looked her up and sure enough, she was a c-level exec and was obviously part of the decision. And here I am, one of the many moron parents she has to deal with as a volunteer coach seemingly mocking her about it at practice during what was probably a very bad week for her. I felt like a total ass. I apologized the next time I saw her, but you know, that doesn't really do much. I've since learned to not assume any more.

lIl-IIIl 4y ago

I remember it was quite a big deal and they got skewered at SNL over it: https://youtu.be/0eAXW-zkGlM https://youtu.be/0eAXW-zkGlM.