Netflix surpasses 200 million subscribers thanks to (also) the pandemic. Cash flow improves, headline shifts to Wall Street

Milan If it were a nation, it would now be in the top ten most populous, between Bangladesh and Nigeria. Netflix surpassed 200 million subscribers, adding 8.5 million customers in the fourth quarter of 2020, and declared that it is “very close” to being in a steady positive cash flow situation, considering the possibility of repurchasing, repurchasing private equity that would normally be What to reward shareholders.

The cornerstone of building the platform’s future, one from a symbolic point of view of the users’ goal and the other is essential from a financial point of view because it means freeing oneself from the need for funding from the fur. The news, which lined up last night after the close of US trade, sent the stock higher in the following hours, with a 12% jump. The performance was confirmed when the markets reopened on Wednesday, when it helped push the Nasdaq index to an all-time high.

Not least of which are other considerations lined up Bloomberg. The data turned out to be higher than expected because after the jump in the first half of the year, a slowdown was expected, but to a certain point. The dynamics of the epidemic have sabotaged what many assumed, that the economic crisis could lead users to disconnect “redundant” services, such as Netflix. The crisis was there, but so unique in its shape a constraint on the home that it fed hunger to flow despite the uncertainty about the future of their finances. And Netflix has ridden it despite the competition, just as the platforms proliferate and Disney + has managed to add 87 million subscribers.

Net profit for broadcasting movies and TV series in the fourth quarter of 2020 was about $ 542 million, at $ 1.19 per share, compared to the 1.39 experts had expected, after 1.30 a year ago. Revenue was $ 6.64 billion, effectively in line with the consensus of $ 6.626 billion and higher than $ 5.47 billion in the previous year. It is very easy to contact the epidemic that has prevented many users at home and thus stimulated consumption by broadcasting.

Net added subscribers totaled 8.5 million, compared to a forecast of 6.47 million subscribers, despite higher prices in the United States and Canada. For the first time, the number of subscribers exceeded 200 million, for a total of 203.7 million, an annual increase of 36.6 million, of which 25.9 million were in the first half thanks to the epidemic that prevented people at home, for weeks, around the world. The threshold of 100 million subscribers was crossed in 2017.

In the year, revenues topped 25 billion for the first time, with profits increasing 48%. In 2020, free cash flow was 1.9 billion, up from 3.3 billion in 2019. “The massive growth in entertainment streaming has brought competitors like Disney, warnermedia, and discovery. This is also why we have moved so quickly. To grow and enhance our original content library across the group Wide range of species and nations, “the letter to the shareholders said. “We no longer believe that we need to raise external funding for our day-to-day operations,” the memo continues.
Over the past year, Netflix’s stock has increased 48%.