Netflix CEO calls its 75% stock crash "horrifying," defends Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais

[midian182]

What just happened? During the height of the pandemic, it seemed like Netflix's star would never stop shining. But since then the company's share price has fallen from a high of $690 to just $195 today, something its CEO calls "horrifying, disappointing and embarrassing." He also addressed the Dave Chappelle controversy by comparing any potential canceling of the comedian with censorship in the Middle East.

April brought news that Netflix likely thought would never happen: for the first time in a decade, its overall number of subscribers was down, which the streamer blamed on everything from rivals like Disney+ to account sharing and the Russia/Ukraine conflict. The resulting share crash saw it lose $54 billion in a single day.

Netflix's shares have collapsed a further 75% since April's bombshell. In an interview with The New York Times, CEO Ted Sarandos called the situation "horrifying, disappointing and embarrassing" but added that the company needs to move on.

"We make decisions based on the best information we have at the time. They are not always going to be right, but how you help navigate the outcomes, and the urgency you bring to it, is what gets folks through the storm. And the storms will come," he said.

The CEO also talked about the controversy surrounding its Dave Chappelle Netflix special, The Closer, in which the comedian jokes about transgender people. Sarandos said that while he was surprised by the level of outrage it caused and the Netflix staff who walked out in protest, he did not agonize over whether to support Chappelle. Ricky Gervais has been embroiled in a similar situation over trans comments in his Netflix special. Sarandos said his views on Chappelle also apply to Gervais.

"I think it's very important to the American culture generally to have free expression," said the Netflix boss. "We're programming for a lot of diverse people who have different opinions and different tastes and different styles, and yet we're not making everything for everybody. We want something for everybody but everything's not going to be for everybody."

"I always said if we censor in the U.S., how are we going to defend our content in the Middle East?"

Despite the layoffs at Netflix and fan site Tudum, canceled shows, reports of consumers reaching peak subscription, and more long-term Netflix users abandoning the platform, Sarandos remains optimistic about the future. "We're 90 years behind all of our current competitors in what we do today, and they're just entering into our space," he said. "We have to have content that people like better on Netflix than anywhere else. I know it seems like it should be more complicated than that, but it almost isn't."

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https://www.techspot.com/news/94757-netflix-ceo-calls-75-stock-crash-horrifying-defends.html

 

[jonny888]

"We're 90 years behind all of our current competitors in what we do today"

I'm going to go head and say that's a misquote? Or does he mean they're behind in terms of getting started but ahead in what they've achieved? Reads weirdly is all.

 

[George Keech]

"We're 90 years behind all of our current competitors in what we do today"

I'm going to go head and say that's a misquote? Or does he mean they're behind in terms of getting started but ahead in what they've achieved? Reads weirdly is all.

I think they must mean there streaming tech is from 1932 - makes sense

 

[Endymio]

"We're 90 years behind all of our current competitors in what we do today"

I'm going to go head and say that's a misquote? Or does he mean they're behind in terms of getting started...

His current competitors are other content generators, in other words the major Hollywood motion picture houses, most of which were founded in the 1920s and '30s.

Speaking to his subscriber loss, when Netflix began prioritizing the woke propaganda of their content over its entertainment value, I shut off my subscription. I suspect many others -- even those who agree with the messages purveyed -- made the same choice. Most people don't like to pay to be lectured.

 

[dangh]

With the end of pandemic where number of users grown significantly, it is not surprising people returning to the previous activities and use Netflix less. And as well disney+, Prime and so on - but for other companies streaming is not a single source of income. Still, even Amazon got strongly hited because people again started going to physical shops. So I don't think that there is anything surprising. And I think Netflix will do well anyway. We need competition on the market.

 

[nnguy2]

Speaking to his subscriber loss, when Netflix began prioritizing the woke propaganda of their content over its entertainment value, I shut off my subscription. I suspect many others -- even those who agree with the messages purveyed -- made the same choice. Most people don't like to pay to be lectured.

Wtf are you talking about? Netflix is like the opposite of "woke".

 

[yannus]

Nobody should care if Netflix or Disney or whatever garbage factory disappears, but everybody should protect their farmers and local factories.

 

[Inthenstus]

Wtf are you talking about? Netflix is like the opposite of "woke".

Uh.. you must be watching the wrong stuff lol.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

If they go unwoke they may go unbroke.

 

[Achaios]

Wtf are you talking about? Netflix is like the opposite of "woke".

The fact that it's not woke enough for you, it doesn't mean it's not woke at all.

 

[Dimitriid]

I am not saying that this obsession with defending transphobic comedians (Although nowadays, you´ll be hard pressed to find *any* comedians that aren't outright blatant hateful bigots) is directly linked to their stock crashing, but this obsession with freezed peach posturing is a huge indicative of when executives have just given up on even trying to come back from it and just start laying the ground to blame all their terrible decisions and quite honestly, lack of any culpability in the matter (As the main reason for their struggle is being strangled out of content by giants like Amazon and Disney from consolidation of media and properties going on since before digital streaming was even a thing decades ago) And just try to muster some measure of sympathy by making it a culture war.

You could have just you know, invested your money on some other comedians, maybe not even comedy specials at all just more of the shows people already liked and wanted more of you guys didn't *HAVE* to keep writing Chappelle and Gervais blank checks I promise you it is not a freezed peach issue no matter how much you want to make it one, you're not all that important in the grand scheme of things.

EDIT: I mean just read this thread: Most of the usual suspects are already accusing Netflix of "prioritizing woke propaganda" so they're not going to take you back because you fired a trans employee just to keep the Chappelle special available and well, now the 'woke' crowd that was even there at all (Most self respecting leftists left when you got as close as legally possible as putting child pornography on your service anyway) also hates your guys and hope you go bankrupt.

So you're dying on this hill of free speech for nothing: The freezed peach warriors don't believe you, the woke crowd still hates your guts for platforming transphobia, you might as well just let someone half way competent take over the entire company at this point all this will do is accelerate the free fall of your stock value.

 

[Sathi43]

Wtf are you talking about? Netflix is like the opposite of "woke".

They look pretty woke to me. Obviously that's upto personal interpretation. To be fair though, it's not just a Netflix problem. Majority of the entertainment industry reeks woke political correctness, catering to the loud minority IAmOffendedGang. If you're offended now, chances are you're woke too. Be careful. Woke not the best mindset to have for long term financial success.

 

[Endymio]

...nowadays, you´ll be hard pressed to find *any* comedians that aren't outright blatant hateful bigots)

White male telling jokes about straight white males = good clean fun.
Black male telling jokes about gay black males = blatantly hateful bigotry.

Ok, got it now. I'll report to the reeducation center for remedial classes.

 

[Irata]

If we censor in the US, how are we going to defend our content in the Middle East?

Just do the same thing most (if not all) corporations do when it e.g. comes to pride month - don‘t.

Edit: This is to say that most woke signaling companies don‘t actually holds these values, they just do it where it‘s convenient and they believe it gives good PR.

 

[Irata]

Wtf are you talking about? Netflix is like the opposite of "woke".

Are you referring to their actual values or their content / signaling ?
The ‚Netflix adaptation‘ meme exists for a reason imho.

 

[trparky]

Edit: This is to say that most woke signaling companies don't actually hold these values, they just do it where it's convenient and they believe it gives good PR.

In other words, it's all fake. And if there's anything I can't stand more than stupidity, it's fakeness.

 

[Nobina]

Regardless of wether they are woke or not if they had good content people would keep subscribing. I haven't watched a movie or a TV show for ages but considering what garbage people are watching these days it's amazing Netflix can't match even those very low standards.

 

[wiyosaya]

IMO, Netflix has nothing to worry about. The crash is the panic and paranoia surrounding unreasonable expectations of continued unbridled and unsustainable growth. It will all blow over and stabilize in time. Netflix may lose a few more subscribers, but that, too, will stabilize.

sarcasm follows :I feel sorry for the anti-woke crowd. It must be extraordinarily difficult to find any kind of entertainment that pleases you. Not to mention I have to wonder what happens when the anti-woke see someone who does not look like them They must turn and run away in abject fear or go get their 2nd amendment possession and start shooting. After all, they are all being replaced.

Perhaps the anti-work crowd should petition the MPAA for a "contains people of color" rating. end sarcasm

 

[p51d007]

When Netflix started, pretty much all Hollywood movies were on their service. With the major studios having their own platforms, Netflix doesn't have the content they once had. Couple that with price increases, going woke, the country in an inflation spiral, multiple streaming platforms, people cutting back, you can see their issue.

 

[psycros]

IMO, Netflix has nothing to worry about. The crash is the panic and paranoia surrounding unreasonable expectations of continued unbridled and unsustainable growth. It will all blow over and stabilize in time. Netflix may lose a few more subscribers, but that, too, will stabilize.

sarcasm follows :I feel sorry for the anti-woke crowd. It must be extraordinarily difficult to find any kind of entertainment that pleases you. Not to mention I have to wonder what happens when the anti-woke see someone who does not look like them They must turn and run away in abject fear or go get their 2nd amendment possession and start shooting. After all, they are all being replaced.

Perhaps the anti-work crowd should petition the MPAA for a "contains people of color" rating. end sarcasm

Well, there it it is..the stupidest comment I'll read today.

 

[psycros]

Netflix isn't losing subscribers because of a couple of comics who dared to make fun of the far left maniacs. Their losing subs because the bulk of their programming is still very much evangelizing that kind of mental illness. They need to double down on freedom of expression and watch their numbers hit new heights.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Nobody should care if Netflix or Disney or whatever garbage factory disappears, but everybody should protect their farmers and local factories.

Local factories.... what are those again? Oh wait, aren't those the things that gave people jobs that the capitalists closed because it was cheaper to import everything from China? I'm pretty sure that I heard of those in history books...

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais have little to nothing to do with the stock. The "controversies" did not cause the stock price to collapse. Good on netflix for defending free speech, because as we know, "twitter isnt a real place". And it isnt. Their stock was fine after the "controversy".

What triggered the stock collapse was netflix going from gaining 8-8.5 million subs per quarter to LOSING 200k per quarter, at a time when other sub services were still growing. That was a major shock to investors, as netflix is very capital hungry for new shows and cant afford to lose a grand total of 8.2-8.7 million quarterly subs.

A lot of this is built on netflix's efforts just being.....kinda garbage. Shows with low quality writing, dropped with no satisfying conclusion, demographics all over the place, and a cherry of inflamatory wokeness sprinkled just enough to spark debate, because bad press is still press. For every Arcane or Castlevania they make 10 shows you cant even remember.

Serve it with a side of ever increasing prices and crackdowns on account sharing and you have a recipe for continued sub loss that makes netflix unsustainable.

They need to figure out their content production, they need to back off on users using their accounts in the ways they want, and they need to consider lowering the price if they keep losing older movies and TV shows to other platforms.

With the end of pandemic where number of users grown significantly, it is not surprising people returning to the previous activities and use Netflix less. And as well disney+, Prime and so on - but for other companies streaming is not a single source of income. Still, even Amazon got strongly hited because people again started going to physical shops. So I don't think that there is anything surprising. And I think Netflix will do well anyway. We need competition on the market.

The issue is platforms like disney+ and amazon, while not growing as fast as before, didnt LOST subscribers. Only netflix pulled that off.

 

[nnguy2]

The biggest threat to conservative males is being looked down upon for being *******s... Must be a nice life

 

[Theinsanegamer]

In other words, it's all fake. And if there's anything I can't stand more than stupidity, it's fakeness.

It always has been. Look no further then coca cola or BMW with their pride logos, juxtaposed against their 30's german logos. Corporations will join any ideological bandwagon if there is money to be made.

The biggest threat to conservative males is being looked down upon for being *******s... Must be a nice life

It is pretty nice, not wrapping yourself in marxist race propaganda and constant gender confusion. When you can just call a spade a spade you dont feel nearly as stressed.

Of course there's this group of really loud twitter addicts who keep screaming at me that I'm literally the worst thing on earth since I dont subscribe to their ideology, and for some reason they keep trying to get me fired from my job. Dont know why they're so scared.