The mightiest streamer of all is falling. Netflix stock dropped 8.5% on Thursday after forecasts suggested that its subscriber growth was slowing. This comes after 2024 saw record growth in the company’s stock price as subscriptions soared following their crackdown on password sharing.
The tumult with Netflix’s stock is also related to broader economic trends, as many stocks declined in reaction to President Trump’s tariffs. Spotify (-7.4%), Warner Bros. Discovery (-6.4%), Roku (-6.4%), Disney (-3.6%), and Amazon (-3.7%) all saw their stock prices fall.
Netflix’s declining subscription numbers might also be related to an analysis from MoffettNathason that suggested that Netflix’s subscriber growth might slow substantially at some point this year. Although “it is likely Netflix has a few more quarters of strong subscriber growth driven by its content slate and ad-tier,” the analysis said, “we do expect the benefits of the password-sharing crackdown to slow.”
This comes as Netflix is planning to stop sharing its subscriber numbers every quarter the way it has historically. The company has stated that metrics like engagement and profitability better reflect the overall health of the company, and of its streaming arm.
Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann, meanwhile, has signaled that the company is planning to continue increasing its spending over the coming years. “We’re not anywhere near a ceiling,” Neumann said at an investor conference.
So, while the stock may have declined substantially, it seems that the company is still projecting strength, and has plenty of reasons to support that claim. It’s impossible to say how much of the decline was related to broader economic trends, and how much was specific to Netflix.
