Netflix Inc on Tuesday said that it added nearly 19 million subscribers during the holiday season to finish last year with more than 300 million.
Company executives credited steady investments in shows and movies with helping power growth at the streaming behemoth, while announcing it is increasing prices in Argentina, Canada, Portugal and the US.
“As we continue to invest in programming and deliver more value for our members, we will occasionally ask our members to pay a little more so that we can reinvest to further improve Netflix,” the company said in a letter to investors.
Photo: Reuters
Premium and standard memberships in the US are to cost US$2 more per month, US$25 and US$18 respectively, while a standard ad-supported tier would be US$8, an increase of US$1, the company said.
In the final quarter of last year, the streaming juggernaut said it logged profit of US$1.87 billion on revenue of US$10.25 billion that grew double digits from the same period the previous year.
Netflix shares jumped more than 14 percent to top US$993 in after-market trading.
“We enter 2025 with strong momentum, coming off a year with record net additions — 41 million — and having reaccelerated growth,” Netflix executives told investors.
They added that Netflix is in a “leadership position” when it comes to engagement, with about two hours daily per paid member.
“Our business remains intensely competitive with many formidable competitors across traditional entertainment and big tech,” Netflix executives said.
Netflix ended last year with a strong lineup that included a second season of the global hit Squid Game, the hit movie Carry-On, and the boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
Netflix forecast revenue this year of between US$43.5 billion and US$44.5 billion, and is targeting a healthy 29 percent operating margin.
Netflix shares have gained 80 percent over the past year, significantly outperforming the S&P 500.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
RSS