Hastings Not Scaling Back; Netflix May Gain Amid COVID-19; Stock Down

Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings denied the decision to share the CEO role with Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos (see 2007160073 and personals section, July 17) foretells his exit from the company or a reduction in his day-to-day duties. “I'm in for a decade,” said Hastings in a Q2 call Thursday (see materials here). “As co-CEOs, it's two of us full time.” Forecasting a 63% year-over-year decline in Q3 net subscriber additions to 2.5 million is based on "the context of what just happened in Q2,” said Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann. “We just added 10 million members, which is the largest growth we've ever had in a second quarter.” Lockdowns sent Q1 sub growth soaring. Newer members are “highly engaged,” said Neumann. “They're sticking around with us actually as well or better than pre-COVID.” When a Netflix user churns, “it's always temporary,” said Hastings. “It's just a matter of timing as our service gets better, as maybe their income increases, as the internet gets faster.” The streaming-device maker disputes of the sort that have kept Peacock off the Roku platform are “really unfortunate,” said Chief Product Officer Greg Peters, newly named to the dual role of chief operating officer. “It really impacts consumers when they can't watch the shows that they're thrilled to watch on the device that they have.” COVID-19 on-set “safety protocols” Netflix is installing globally “will become a permanent part of production,” said Sarandos. The time between the shutdown and ramping back up “was spent on scripts and development and preparedness,” he said: That will make the shoots “more efficient." The stock closed 6.5% lower Friday at $492.99.