Netflix sheds subscribers—and $170bn in market value

IN JANUARY NETFLIXSP warned investors that it expected to add only 2.5m subscribers in the quarter ahead, causing a sell-off that knocked nearly 30% off its share price. On April 19th the video-streamer admitted that the reality was worse: Netflix lost 200,000 customers in the period, its first net drop in more than a decade. The firm expects to lose another 2m between April and June. By April 20th it was worth 35% less than the day before—and 63% less than at the start of the year, wiping out nearly $170bn in market value and making it the worst-performing stock in the & 500 index.Subscribers in America drifted away after price rises that made Netflix the dearest big streaming service, at $15.49 a month. Another 700,000 accounts were lost when Netflix pulled out of Russia. Even in Latin America, where it had been growing fast, it shed members. And although it gained 1.1m new ones in Asia, that is fewer than in the same period last year.