LOS
ANGELES
—
Shares
of
Netflix
jumped
in
extended
trading
Tuesday
after
the
company
reported
adding
13.1
million
subscribers
during
the
fourth
quarter,
stronger
growth
than
Wall
Street
expected
as
the
streamer
builds
its
ad-supported
service
and
cracks
down
on
password
sharing.
Netflix
now
has
260.8
million
paid
subscribers,
a
new
record
for
the
service.
The
subscriber
growth
easily
tops
the
8.76
million
paid
membership
adds
Netflix
reported
in
the
third
quarter.
The
company
also
blew
past
Wall
Street’s
fourth-quarter
expectations
of
8
million
to
9
million.
Here
are
the
results:
-
Earnings: $2.11
per
share
vs.
$2.22
per
share
expected
by
LSEG,
formerly
known
as
Refinitiv -
Revenue: $8.83
billion
vs.
$8.72
billion
expected
by
LSEG -
Total
memberships:
260.8
million
vs.
256
million
expected,
according
to
Street
Account
Netflix
reported
fourth-quarter
net
income
of
$937.8
million,
or
$2.11
per
share,
versus
$55.3
million,
or
12
cents
per
share,
in
the
prior-year
period.
The
company
posted
revenue
of
$8.83
billion
for
the
quarter,
up
from
$7.85
billion
in
the
year-ago
quarter.
As
Netflix
focuses
on
improving
profits,
the
company
increased
its
2024
full-year
operating
margin
forecast
to
24%,
up
from
a
range
of
22%
to
23%.
It
cited
the
weakening
of
the
U.S.
dollar
and
a
stronger-than-forecast
fourth-quarter
performance.
The
company
also
projects
earnings
per
share
of
$4.49
for
the
fiscal
first
quarter
of
2024,
higher
than
the
$4.10
Wall
Street
had
expected.
While
rivals
in
the
streaming
space
have
struggled
to
reach
profitability,
and
have
been
cutting
down
on
content
spend,
Netflix
is
prepared
to
invest
in
a
larger
slate.
However,
it
won’t
be
doing
that
through
acquisitions
of
traditional
entertainment
companies
or
linear
assets,
the
company
said
in
a
letter
to
shareholders
Tuesday.
“As
our
competitors
adjust
to
these
changes,
it’s
logical
to
expect
further
consolidation,
particularly
among
companies
with
large
and
declining
linear
networks,”
the
company
said.
“We’re
not
interested
in
acquiring
linear
assets.
Nor
do
we
believe
that
further
M&A
among
traditional
entertainment
companies
will
materially
change
the
competitive
environment
given
all
the
consolidation
that
has
already
happened
over
the
last
decade.”
But
that
won’t
stop
the
company
from
partnering
with
content
makers
who
have
traditionally
worked
in
the
linear
space.
Netflix
took
another
step
toward
building
subscribers
when
it
announced
earlier
Tuesday
that
it
would
stream
the
popular
WWE
Raw
starting
next
year.
The
deal
is
the
streaming
platform’s
biggest
step
yet
into
live
entertainment.
The
company
foresees
continued
competition
going
forward.
“It’s
why
continuing
to
improve
our
entertainment
offering
is
so
important,
and
as
many
of
our
competitors
cut
back
on
their
content
spend,
we
continue
to
invest
in
our
slate,”
the
company
wrote
to
shareholders.
Netflix
is
still
navigating
its
transformation
from
targeting
subscriber
growth
to
focusing
on
profit,
using
price
hikes,
password
crackdowns
and
ad-supported
tiers
to
boost
revenue.
Investors
got
a
sneak
preview
of
growth
in
Netflix’s
advertising-based
plan
earlier
this
month,
when
the
company’s
president
of
advertising,
Amy
Reinhard,
told
attendees
at
the
Variety
Entertainment
Summit
at
CES
that
the
company
now
has
more
than
23
million
global
monthly
active
users.
That’s
up
from
15
million
that
the
company
reported
in
November.
While
Netflix
doesn’t
see
ads
as
its
primary
revenue
driver
in
2024,
it’s
still
looking
to
scale
that
part
of
its
business.
“We’re
focused
on
the
additional
work
that
we
can
do
in
that
space,”
said
Greg
Peters,
co-CEO
of
Netflix,
during
the
company’s
earnings
call.
“That
means
making
the
ads
plan
more
attractive.
We’ve
added
streams,
higher
resolution,
downloads,
it
means
engaging
partner
channels.
You’ll
see
us
do
more
than
that.”
Netflix
is
also
looking
at
making
its
ad
tier
more
attractive
to
advertisers,
including
by
bolstering
its
sales
teams
and
ad
operations
to
“meet
brands
where
they
need
us
and
how
they
need
us.”
“We’re
focused
on
the
long-term
revenue
potential
here,”
said
Peters.
“We’re
very
optimistic
about
it.
It’s
a
huge
opportunity.”
