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Netflix Slo-Mo Harakiri Continues As Company Kills "Qwikster" A Month After "Spin Off"

Tyler Durden's picture




 

The epic case study of unprecedented corporate suicide just keeps getting better and better. In the meantime, the biggest loser is the Twitter account of the squatter @Qwikster who should have sold while he could.

From Reed "Don't short my company" Hastings via the Netflix blog:

It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.

 

This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster.

 

While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.

 

We’re constantly improving our streaming selection. We’ve recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax. Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we’ve added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS.

 

We value our members, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get movies & TV shows.

 

Thank you.

 

-Reed

There is just one thing the "members" want to know: when is the inevitable follow on equity offering coming?

 

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Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:20 | 1756911 ZeroPower
ZeroPower's picture

NFLX preopen liking the news apparently.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:23 | 1756917 Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden's picture

Is this the same market that thinks Dexia's nationalization is good news?

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:28 | 1756930 GeneMarchbanks
GeneMarchbanks's picture

One and the same. 12,500 Dow by Thanksgiving. Unless of course, adults take over and tell some truth.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:43 | 1756962 The Limerick King
The Limerick King's picture

 

 

The macro is looking quite dire

Merkozy is up on the wire

They walk with no net

And talk down the threat

Just praying that markets go higher.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:03 | 1757029 financeguru500
financeguru500's picture

Here's a tip for netflix. 20000 movies doesn't matter if 90% of them are crap that no one wants to watch. Movies that are so bad, people would not even pay $1 to rent them from redbox. Do you ever hear of someone bragging that they just own 500 movies that they bought from Walmart's bargain bin for $2?

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:14 | 1757061 realitybiter
realitybiter's picture

This is the part that the analyst need to understand.  The selection sucks.  

Hastings runs the company like a cheap hotel with those dinky soap bars that are so small you can't unwrap the paper.  I cancelled my subscription months ago because there was very little I wanted to see and cool documentaries of Indy films were all scheduled to be released sometime in the future.  My library had better selection.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 11:13 | 1757544 trav7777
trav7777's picture

I can't recall a more botched management decision process since New Coke

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:31 | 1757121 DosZap
DosZap's picture

Do you ever hear of someone bragging that they just own 500 movies that they bought from Walmart's bargain bin for $2?

 

They Are far beter movies than the foreign,independent, w/subtitles that Nflxx thinks are PRIME movies.At least they not in Chineee

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 11:55 | 1757718 ElvisDog
ElvisDog's picture

What I've never understood about Netflix is why they have so little offerings in the adult film space. Why would you ignore the biggest money maker on the internet and just accept that people want to watch porn? Have to agree about the crap on-demand offerings. Other than a few gems like "Stagecoach" it's mostly things I've never heard of.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 10:18 | 1757300 Jay Gould Esq.
Jay Gould Esq.'s picture

Here lies the body of Mary Lee.

Died at the age of one hundred-and-three.

For fifteen years she kept her virginity.

Not a bad record for this vicinty.

...Gotta' love Robert Shaw.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 23:07 | 1759856 rcintc
rcintc's picture

I think we need a bigger boat.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:43 | 1756969 Esso
Esso's picture

Not much chance of that happening. The adults & truth thingy, that is.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:48 | 1756983 Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai's picture

Faily McFailFlix.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:59 | 1757226 Race Car Driver
Race Car Driver's picture

It's even better than that!

No Recession for U.S. as Forecasts Improve
Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:47 | 1756942 BlackholeDivestment
BlackholeDivestment's picture

...the market will love this news too. http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?ID=240953&R=R1 RTN spike for all my FOO (friends of Rosemary's Baby) Fighters. http://www.israeltoday.co.il/News/tabid/178/nid/22971/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:50 | 1756986 DeadFred
DeadFred's picture

All I see when I look through the various sites is euphoria. Multi-month rally ahead, last week was the bottom etc. The market must be ready for an epic fail.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:45 | 1757174 Don Birnam
Don Birnam's picture

Coke (original )...New Coke ( Goizueta's Folly/gone )...Coke Classic ( the once and future Coca-Cola ). This corporate blunder was, in a relatively short time,  also "corrected" courtesy of disappointed customers.

Netflix, however, is no Coca-Cola.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:58 | 1757224 Dr. No
Dr. No's picture

In Coke's defense, they needed a "Kanasas City shuffle" in order to remove the "Coke" from "Coca Cola".  The three months was enough to wean people off while they made the change.  What is Netflix excuse?

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 10:13 | 1757281 Jay Gould Esq.
Jay Gould Esq.'s picture

Collapsing stock price and the exodus of the cast of thousands from subscriber rolls.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 11:15 | 1757554 trav7777
trav7777's picture

in their defense, New Coke won ALL of the taste tests and was a very tasty beverage.  Used to love drinking those in the discount bin at the local minimart when i was a kid.  Cheap and tasted very good.

Nflx; I can see no focus studies that they could have POSSIBLY done that suggested that DumpSter was a good idea to spin off their core business to.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:21 | 1756915 FunkyMonkeyBoy
FunkyMonkeyBoy's picture

TV = The idiot box.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:28 | 1756936 GeneMarchbanks
GeneMarchbanks's picture

green.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:24 | 1756924 TheLooza
TheLooza's picture

So fucking sick.  So they made a business decision that the split made sense.  Stock tanks.  Three weeks later, they unmake the business decision?  How does that work?  These guys are obsessed with the value of their weekly cash-out of stock options.  I'm shorting this bitch again today. 

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:45 | 1756977 HelluvaEngineer
HelluvaEngineer's picture

It's called a do-over.  It works so well in Europe, now everyone is using it.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:34 | 1757132 juggalo1
juggalo1's picture

I don't understand how these big companies are operating. HP had a similar issue with their touchpad. "Oh we're cancelling it", "No wait we're ordering more, but still cancelling it". Just decide what kind of company you want to be, and focus on getting there. This running back and forth shit is going to wear everyone out.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 11:16 | 1757565 trav7777
trav7777's picture

Consensus decisionmaking...sprinkle in diversity combined with a board and senior executiveship that is comprised of people there because of their family's clout and you get really dumb shit like this.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:25 | 1756928 stateside
stateside's picture

Over the last several years, I've found it necessary to "dumb down" when analyzing which way the markets will go.  Just leave your brain at the door before entering and everything will make sense.

stateside

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 12:40 | 1757900 andybev01
andybev01's picture

One could just as well wait outside the door entirely.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:27 | 1756929 snowball777
snowball777's picture

Now that's "Qwik".

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:28 | 1756932 j.tennquist
j.tennquist's picture

The CEO of Netflix seems to be purposely reinforcing the notion that all CEO's are incompetent dopes, which, ummm, I guess... is true.

Keep up the good work!

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:03 | 1757028 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

The CEO of Netflix seems to be purposely reinforcing the notion that all CEO's are incompetent dopes, which, ummm, I guess... is true.

Like other (in)famous CEOs, after gutting the company, he'll be let go with a twenty million dollar parting gift and then hired by another profitable corporation to repeat the process. This has been the pattern for at least the last fifteen years.

 

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 10:06 | 1757255 jez
jez's picture

"While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes."

===========================================

Note how he calls a price increase a price "change". Twice. It was three months ago but he's still using a weasel word instead of being honest and straightforward about it.

He believes his customers are very stupid indeed. If he calls an increase a change, he believes, they won't realise what is going on.

Just the kind of guy you want at the top.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 11:58 | 1757737 ElvisDog
ElvisDog's picture

I'm using Netflix as an example to teach investing lessons to my 13 year-old son. He was doing something at school where they were picking stocks. Someone told him that if you invested $100 in Netflix ten years ago it would be worth $10000 (or whatever) now. I told him that might be true but lately it's down 50% (or whatever) from its high. Then we spoke about Netflix's business model, its competition, and how things change over time.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:28 | 1756933 jeaton
jeaton's picture

Mere months ago I was a raving fan of this company.  Can't tell you how many people I turned onto Netflix over the last two years.

Now, the mere mention of its name makes my lip curl.  I cancelled, never to return. 

Adios, Netfix.  It was good while it lasted. 

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:51 | 1756935 The Limerick King
The Limerick King's picture

 

 

Netflix is coming unglued

We thought Mr. Hastings was shrewd

The POMO support

Has turned to a short

The lemmings are now getting screwed

 

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:20 | 1757079 Nascent_Variable
Nascent_Variable's picture

There once was a man from Netflix

His investors were all shitting bricks

So, he went back on his word

But it smelled like a turd

Now he works in the alley sucking dicks.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:35 | 1756938 Mercury
Mercury's picture

I'd like to see a back-of-the-envelope calculation of how many individual nodes need to be streaming content from Netflix at the same time to suck up 50% of total available bandwidth or some other critical level.

Actual broadcasting will always have an advantage over point-to-point downloading/streaming because each additional user doesn't incrementally bring the system closer to it's finite capacity.

It's amazing that Netflix has accomplished what it has but some of the fundamental problems that surrounded Marc Cuban's Broadcast.com remain the same here.

 

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 15:16 | 1758625 unerman
unerman's picture

Lol, you have no idea what you are talking about, do you?

Im pretty sure netflix has capacity to stream every user at the same time X 2.

This ain't 1999.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:29 | 1756939 I am a Man I am...
I am a Man I am Forty's picture

I'm a little confused with the whole Netflix thing, most the people I know just use streaming and don't mess with the archaic process of mailing DVD's.  Those people (including me), if I recall correctly, pay $2 less than they were before.  $7.99 a month for Netflix streaming is damn cheap.  I use it quite a bit.

So let me put it this way, what the fuck is all the bitching about!?!?

 

BTW, the stock has always been way overpriced and still is.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:34 | 1756944 blueRidgeBoy
blueRidgeBoy's picture

it's fashionable to bitch about NFLX here at ZH.  It's one of the secret handshakes.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:44 | 1756972 BoNeSxxx
BoNeSxxx's picture

Green just for the awesome license plate...

I too am close to the Blueridge... hit me up at myusername@gmail.com

I'd like to get some VA ZHedgers together locally to plan and bitch.

-Bones

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:37 | 1756952 GeneMarchbanks
GeneMarchbanks's picture

'So let me put it this way, what the fuck is all the bitching about!?!?

 

BTW, the stock has always been way overpriced and still is.'

Are you even reading what you're posting?

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:39 | 1756959 I am a Man I am...
I am a Man I am Forty's picture

yes, zero errors

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:56 | 1757009 johnQpublic
johnQpublic's picture

on a long enough timeline...

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:55 | 1757006 Ruffcut
Ruffcut's picture

I am using the streaming, and can't believe the huge collection of shitty movies. The comedy is ok. Once I watch all the funny shit, the wife wants me to drop it. If the asshole charter cable charged something affordable for on demand, netflix would be toast.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 10:46 | 1757425 Harlequin001
Harlequin001's picture

So who's the fucking idiot then?

Why don't you just cancel the subscription and do something constructive with your life. You never know, one day you might even become 'interesting'...

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:34 | 1756947 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

this guy has just zoomed up the charts to become the WORST ceo in the history of all time

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:35 | 1756949 freeasabee1
freeasabee1's picture

netflicks = netdicks , I dont even want to pay 8 bucks, I can use the free streaming thats available out there, it just as good and includes porn and new movies....i suggest it to everyone

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:36 | 1756950 SirPlayomic
SirPlayomic's picture

O.T. for those interested to try out a browser game about market speculation, corruption and manipulation, you can go here beta.greedion and enter the username "greedion" and the password "wallstreet" (but without the quotes :))

I've put everything I learned from zerohedge into this game. I hope it wakes up some folks.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:38 | 1756955 somethingelse
somethingelse's picture

I heard a rumor Nestle Quik Rabbit filed Trademark infringement suit against Neflix   (aren't rumors fun!)

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:44 | 1756975 -Michelle-
-Michelle-'s picture

This should be interesting.  We watch kids' shows and documentaries on Netflix streaming.  That's worth $7.99 a month for me.  However, my free Amazon Prime membership just expired and I renewed at $79 for the year, $6.58 a month, which includes streaming videos.

If they have pretty much the same selection, Netflix is going to be canceled soon.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:28 | 1757113 DosZap
DosZap's picture

 my free Amazon Prime membership just expired and I renewed at $79 for the year, $6.58 a month, which includes streaming videos.

Isn't this an Oxymoron?

 

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 11:19 | 1757579 Panafrican Funk...
Panafrican Funktron Robot's picture

You must be either really tired, or stoned.  It's not possible you could be this stupid.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 12:45 | 1757919 andybev01
andybev01's picture

At least Prime has stuff you want to watch.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 13:09 | 1758031 -Michelle-
-Michelle-'s picture

No.  I had a free Prime membership for one year.  It just expired.  I had to "renew" my membership, but this time I had to pay for it.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 14:11 | 1758314 malek
malek's picture

Good for you. So how many more years will you need to compare the selections?

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 14:40 | 1758436 -Michelle-
-Michelle-'s picture

Well, I've had access to the Amazon videos for all of two days now.  Once I complete my analysis, I'll be sure to let you know.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:46 | 1756978 BillyBoy22
BillyBoy22's picture

To be fair, Netflix has added some great new content over the last month TV show wise.  Was dying for deep space 9

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:49 | 1756984 Zgangsta
Zgangsta's picture

Slow news day?

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:54 | 1757001 flyr1710
flyr1710's picture

losing 60% of your market cap/net works is a motivating factor as well

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 08:54 | 1757003 flyr1710
flyr1710's picture

net worth..sorry

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 10:07 | 1757256 falak pema
falak pema's picture

for a toe less economy. It makes you bow legged. Like an old Pawnee warrior. Chatickas-si-Chaticks, meaning "men of men". The new WS mantra...the last of a dying breed...

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:14 | 1757039 Problem Is
Problem Is's picture

The New US Corporate Paradigm

The BAC/Netflix Business Model:

  1. Load firearm.
  2. Point at own foot.
  3. Pull trigger.
  4. Reload.
  5. Repeat.
Mon, 10/10/2011 - 12:47 | 1757931 andybev01
andybev01's picture

Then, when asked about exciting new paradigm, stick foot in mouth.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:11 | 1757052 fwchiro
fwchiro's picture

Didn't Coke try this with the new Coke/old Coke thing?

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:44 | 1757171 Raymond K Hassel
Raymond K Hassel's picture

I'm cringing for Hastings. I'm embarrassed for him. I'm ashamed to be a member of the same species.

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 10:04 | 1757246 imaginalis
imaginalis's picture

Fretnix

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 12:10 | 1757787 dugorama
dugorama's picture

Management 101:  Never rebrand.  If you have a well known brand that's at least 50% of your firms value. 

Mon, 10/10/2011 - 16:56 | 1759049 Trenchf00t
Trenchf00t's picture

Was short at 299, covered too soon, obviously. It was just costing me too much equity to hold the position. Shame, too, I would have made more if I held on. This summer, it's like they suddenly just handed the company over to greenhorn Harvard MBA's and let 'em do their worst. WTF is going on over there?

Mon, 11/21/2011 - 18:38 | 1900461 radicall
radicall's picture

Very John Paulson of them. They announed a $300 million buyback on Jun 14th when stock was at $250. Offering $200 million at $70

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