“Netflix’s stock dropped? No way.” (Read monotone.)
Of course as soon as I finally get hooked on Netflix the company starts to slide. After losing some 800,000 customers in Q3 because of questionable pricing and organizational shenanigans, Netflix’s stock is dropping. Go figure.
I’m sure it’s not funny or ironic to the company’s investors, but it is to me. Not that the company is struggling, but the way it all went down. In this latest episode, they announced the customer losses, and their stock immediately dropped by a third.
Not that we couldn’t see this coming after all the hullaballoo in the spring and summer. First they jacked up the prices, as much as 60% for some services. Then they announced they were splitting their DVD-by-mail and streaming services into two separate companies. Then they nixed that idea when customers went ballistic.
Raising prices: bad idea for customer satisfaction. Splitting into two companies: good idea if Netflix is trying to sell off its DVD-by-mail service (yesterday’s news) in favor of streaming only (tomorrow’s news), but a bad idea for customer satisfaction.
So, for me, this is how things went…
I signed up for Netflix and like a month later the price went up. It was only a few bucks a month and I wasn’t accustomed to one price yet, so it didn’t chafe me as much as long-time Netflix customers, but still.
Then a couple months later the company said it was splitting, which meant customers would need one account for DVD-by-mail and another account for streaming. Two accounts, two passwords, two bills. Needless to say, there were tantrums.
Again, for me, the separate accounts thing wouldn’t have been a big deal because I only get the DVDs so far, not streaming (I hate it when the video hangs up when watching streaming video).
That’s why it’s still ironic and funny to me—because it didn’t affect me enough to get my panties in a bunch. But in all likelihood I’ll probably have to jump through hoops if/when Netflix sells the DVD side of things.
In any case…(and please read hysterical, raging monotone in this)…“OMG, Netflix’s stock dropped. No way. I can’t believe it. This changes absolutely everything.”
