Reed Hastings, co-CEO of Netflix, participates in the Milken Institute Global Conference on October 18, 2021 in Beverly Hills, California.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Netflix on Tuesday posted mixed financial results and said it was pushing back its broad rollout of its password-sharing crackdown.
Originally, Netflix wanted the rollout to take place late in the first quarter, but on Tuesday it said it would do it in the second quarter.
“While this means that some of the expected membership growth and revenue benefit will fall in Q3 rather than Q2, we believe this will result in a better outcome from both our members and our business,” the company said in its earnings release.
The company said it saw its subscriber growth impacted in the international markets where it has already rolled out such initiatives.
Here are the results Netflix reported Tuesday versus estimates from analysts polled by Refinitiv:
- Earnings per share: $2.88 vs $2.86 expected
- Revenue: $8.16 billion vs $8.18 billion expected
For the quarter ended March 31, Netflix reported earnings of $1.31 billion, or $2.88 a share, compared with $1.6 billion, or $3.53 a share, a year earlier. Revenue grew to $8.16 billion from $7.87 billion in the prior-year period.
Shares of Netflix initially fell more than 10% but mostly recovered in after hours trading.
Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing has been top of mind for investors. Late last year, the company said it would begin rolling out measures to have people who have been borrowing other accounts create their own.
The company has said more than 100 million households share accounts, or about 43% of its global user base. That has affected its ability to invest in new content, Netflix has said. Both the ad-supported option and crackdown on password sharing are meant to boost profits.
“The launch in Q2 will be broad, including the U.S. and the bulk of our countries when we think about it from a revenue perspective,” said co-CEO Greg Peters on Tuesday’s…
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