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Netflix is now worth more than $100B

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Re: Netflix is now worth more than $100B

#81
Finding Netflix fairly frustrating these days. Despite their runaway success they haven’t really done anything to change the Hollywood model. 99.9% crap with a sprinkle of watchable content. And despite the hoards of engineers and machine learning wizards they employ, discovery and interface has regressed in their product. Only reason I haven’t canceled yet is avoiding the hassle of going full torrent/YouTube.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than $100B

#82
post #16

Surprised Netflix hasn't branched out into more content types or more dynamic content. You now have this two way communication channel seems kind of boring to not try and use it even just for mostly video content. Some of their shows run 7+ million an episode. If you look at the development costs of simple mobile games and cut out all the stuff related to IAP it seems like they could create a lot of value for custome…

Are you talking about their shows sometimes costing $7M an episode? Do you know which ones besides House of Cards and The Crown?

Sense8, The Get Down, Marco Polo. They are planning on spending 8 billion on content this year. Lets say they spend 10 million on a couple puzzle/king/angry bird style games. That's .125% of their content creation budget.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than $100B

#83

Finding Netflix fairly frustrating these days. Despite their runaway success they haven’t really done anything to change the Hollywood model. 99.9% crap with a sprinkle of watchable content. And despite the hoards of engineers and machine learning wizards they employ, discovery and interface has regressed in their product. Only reason I haven’t canceled yet is avoiding the hassle of going full torrent/YouTube.

It is amazing to me that they offered a superior interface by any measure back in the DVD days. The AppleTV interface for Netflix is a disgrace. I don’t understand how they have all of these brilliant engineers, yet make an interface worse than what Spectrum provides.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than $100B

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem is there's no growth to be found anywhere. Cryptocurrencies and ICOs. Applied neural networks. Automation. Good electric cars. To the point where people are prepaying for something that might be built in a few years. Good cheap batteries.

>Cryptocurrencies and ICOs. What value is being created here, exactly? There's plenty of idealistic notions being thrown around, but I've yet to see a single, real, useful product or service materialize >Applied neural networks. Same. >Automation. This is way too broad to be invested in. Of course the world is automating at a greater rate, but is this a cause for growth? Will automated factories produce more goods fo…

You're kidding on the "Applied neural networks" bit right? A good subset of the features you see on Facebook and Google have neural networks contributing to their functionality.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than $100B

#85

The entire stock market feels like its in a bubble. Netflix stock gained more than 25% in the past one month. Their free cash flow (FCF) has been negative every single quarter and will be for many quarters to come. Stocks trade based on discounted cash flow(DCF). Netflix however produces no material return for investors and still majority of the analysts keep putting higher and higher price targets, its like they are…

A lot of sophisticated financial people share your thinking. The problem is there's no growth to be found anywhere. People are cheering for 3% GDP growth in the US. Interest rates are at all-time historical lows, meaning discount rates are lower than they've ever been. These macro trends have added up to an environment where people are willing to pay staggering premiums for even a remote shot at growth. It's affectin…

To what degree does income inequality, consumer debt, and rapidly rising barriers of entry to high-income fields contribute slowing GDP growth? Is there research and evidence on the subject?

I'm just an engineer with basic financial survival skills... but blind intuition suggests fixing those problems is necessary for a sustainable growing economy.

"Trickle-down" theory and growing inequality drains economic activity since the "1%" invest their money instead of spending it. They profit when the public consumes, unless short-sighted over-exploitation by some industries strangle general consumer activity...

It sure looks like we're being strangled. Off the top of my head: urban rent, health care, high consumer debt and student debt reduce disposable income while automation, exporting jobs, poor retraining for adult laborers, and lower small-business access to capital due to banking mergers lower actual income. When businesses close, some of their ex-employees will switch to high-skill high-demand jobs... but most will increase the labor supply in less skilled industries because they urgently need money - putting downward pressure on wages and working conditions.

If I'm wrong, I'd love to learn why, and what other systemic conditions explain our economic stagnation.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than $100B

#86
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately they've been letting their back catalog rot away but I still find a minimal DVD subscription to be a good way to watch both brand new and older films.

I'm not sure if it's just me or have there been zero new releases in the DVD section in 2018? Also sometimes I found DVD's on their top 100 list before they show up in the new releases section - like they don't want to have a bunch of people ask to rent a disc if they think it's going to be popular.

Funnily enough I was just looking at that. Admittedly I've seen a number of the releases coming out about now on planes and the like but there was essentially nothing in the New Releases that I was interested in.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than $100B

#87

The entire stock market feels like its in a bubble. Netflix stock gained more than 25% in the past one month. Their free cash flow (FCF) has been negative every single quarter and will be for many quarters to come. Stocks trade based on discounted cash flow(DCF). Netflix however produces no material return for investors and still majority of the analysts keep putting higher and higher price targets, its like they are…

A lot of sophisticated financial people share your thinking. The problem is there's no growth to be found anywhere. People are cheering for 3% GDP growth in the US. Interest rates are at all-time historical lows, meaning discount rates are lower than they've ever been. These macro trends have added up to an environment where people are willing to pay staggering premiums for even a remote shot at growth. It's affectin…

Sustained 3% US GDP growth is overly optimistic. We have 0.7% population growth, and no obvious major investments.

The computer boom is mostly over with the low hanging fruit taken. Prior to that we had IC engines and electricity, but nothing on the horizon seems to have that kind of potential to radically reshape society. And to double the economy every 25 years you need regular dramatic shits.

PS: Look at the past generation (20 years) and 3% are unusually good years.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than $100B

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why you are being downvoted. At some point you have to generate cash to justify your valuation. However if you look at amazon they have never generated cash relative to their valuation and its been like 20 something years. It has returned 10x in the last 10 years so I don't think their investors are complaining. If you look at google, facebook, and apple they are generating cash that would justify their…

> if you look at amazon they have never generated cash relative Isn't this one of those big Amazon myths? I thought the truth was that the income has always been there but it's the constant reinvestment that has kept profits low?

That's how people justify investing in Amazon. But I don't know how they think Amazon can just stop reinvesting one day and make money. Every business line Amazon has is hyper competitive. Can Amazon actually raise prices in any of their businesses?

Re: Netflix is now worth more than $100B

#89

The entire stock market feels like its in a bubble. Netflix stock gained more than 25% in the past one month. Their free cash flow (FCF) has been negative every single quarter and will be for many quarters to come. Stocks trade based on discounted cash flow(DCF). Netflix however produces no material return for investors and still majority of the analysts keep putting higher and higher price targets, its like they are…

Wall Street is now comfortable with the idea of very long-term tech investing and multiple consecutive years of no profit generation...

This is what Amazon has been doing for 20 years. People don't buy Netflix stock because they think it's gonna be profitable tomorrow, but rather because they expect it to be so dominant that when they start generating profits, they would be massive.

Re: Netflix is now worth more than $100B

#90

How do they make money?? I mean - seriously? And how will they stand up now that NN is gone and any company/website using much more traffic will be force to pay more? Please help me with the math -- at any given day, me, my wife and 2 kids are streaming netflix on multiple devices in HD; most likely pulling tens of gigabytes of data per day. How is that all covered under $10.99 per month?? and on the top - they make…

Perhaps like gyms there are a good bunch of people who don't use it nearly as much.
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