Netflix investors are losing their chill. The global streaming giant reported its first subscriber loss in more than a decade on Tuesday, a woeful result as viewers increasingly turn to account-sharing and rival services. Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers in its first quarter, storming far past management’s cautious projections of a gain of 2.5 million subscribers. The company’s shares fell by more than 25 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday. And the downward trend seems set to continue, with Netflix projecting further losses of up to 2 million more subscribers in the second quarter of the year between April and June. “The large number of households sharing accounts—combined with competition, is creating revenue growth headwinds,” CEO Reed Hastings said in a letter to investors. “The big COVID boost to streaming obscured the picture until recently.” The company also suffered a blow after yanking its services from Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, costing it more than 700,000 viewers. In all, Netflix ended March with more than 221.6 million subscribers, according to its letter.
