An Explanation and Some Reflections. I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation. It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming, and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. I’ll try to explain how this happened. For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us) because they are afraid to hurt their initial business.
When Netflix is evolving rapidly, however, I need to be extra-communicative. In hindsight, I slid into arrogance based upon past success. So here is what we are doing and why: Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD, plus lots of TV series. Does Qwikster have a future? Netflix lost 800,000 U.S. subscribers in third quarter — Online Video News. Reed Hastings: “Qwikster Became The Symbol Of Netflix Not Listening” Netflix announced disappointing earnings today, and its expectations to go slide into unprofitability next year. The stock is trading at around $87 in after-hours, down from a close of $120. Following the blowback from his price change, CEO Reed Hastings says, “The focus for us is in rebuilding our reputation.” Asked a question about the attempt to separate the DVD business from the streaming business and create a new in a new Qwikster brand (a plan now abandoned), Hastings admits now: “In hindsight, it is hard to justify.
Having separate brands can in theory make sense. Below are my notes. Earnings conference call Q&A: Q: Why will subscriber additions be positive in November? Reed: We have seen the second wave of cancellations. Q: Why do you think December net adds will be strongly positive? Reed: our marketing has been very successful for the past several years, don’t plan on changing it. very effective at attracting streaming subscribers. Q: Why not reintroduce a combined streaming-DVD?