|
 Netflix added 570,000 U.S. customers in the second fiscal quarter
ended June 30, passing 50 million worldwide subscribers for the
first time. It added 1.12 million customers in international
markets. http://bit.ly/UnqT1D
The company's shares rose nearly 1 percent at $456.21 in after-hours
trading, after the company also said it expected average revenue per
user to rise slowly as it wins over more subscribers at the new
prices.
The company in May increased the price of its most popular video
streaming plan by $1 per month to $9 for new customers in the United
States — the company's first price hike in its largest market in
three years.
The company suffered a consumer exodus and stock plunge after it
announced an unpopular price increase in July 2011.
Netflix executives also said they were contemplating an eventual
move into China, the world's most populous country. "It's
conspicuously large, and it's conspicuously a growing and very
strong economy," David Wells, Netflix's chief financial officer,
said on a video-streamed conference call with analysts. "Look for
the future in terms of an answer from us in China."
Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings cautioned that any move into
China, if it happens, would occur far in the future. "We're not
thinking about it hard right now," Hastings said in an interview.
"We are really focused on Europe at this point."
The company said it planned to expand into Germany, France, Austria,
Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg in September, taking its
international addressable market to more than 180 million broadband
households — double the current U.S. market.
Netflix has invested in original series such as "House of Cards" and
the Emmy-nominated "Orange is the New Black" to square off against
competition from online video players Amazon.com Inc and Hulu. The
June release of a second season of "Orange" helped lure customers
during the quarter, Netflix said.
[to top of second column] |
The company's profit rose to $71 million, or $1.15 per share, from
$29.5 million, or 49 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose
to $1.34 billion from $1.07 billion.
Analysts on average had expected $1.16 per share in profit on
revenue of $1.34 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Netflix also repeated its opposition to the planned merger of
Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc. The company called on
regulators to block the merger or place a condition that would
prevent the combined company from charging interconnection fees to
deliver video over their broadband networks.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Lehar Maan; Editing by Joyjeet Das
and Cynthia Osterman)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright
2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
