By Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Netflix exceeded Wall Street’s quarterly earnings expectations and offered a bullish revenue outlook on Thursday, signaling confidence amid the economic uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff plans.
Shares of the company rose 4.4% in after-hours trading to $1,016.55.
The streaming giant also said its co-founder Reed Hastings had left his post as executive chairman to become the board’s non-executive chair, “part of the natural evolution of our leadership structure and succession planning.”
Netflix reported revenue of $10.54 billion for the first quarter, edging past analysts’ estimates of $10.52 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Diluted per-share earnings of $6.61 exceeded consensus estimates of $5.71. The company released hits such as the limited series “Adolescence”, drama thriller “Zero Day” and the unscripted series “Temptation Island” during the quarter.
Netflix, the dominant streaming service with more than 300 million global customers, has continued to sign up subscribers in markets around the world even as it raises prices. It is also building an advertising business to diversify revenue.
For the first quarter, Netflix said revenue and operating income beat its own guidance “due to slightly higher subscription and ad revenue and the timing of expenses.” It said advertising revenue was “still very small relative to subscription revenue.”
Looking ahead, the company projected revenue would rise to $11.04 billion for April through June, above the analyst consensus of $10.90 billion.
For the year, Netflix reaffirmed its forecast of revenue between $43.5 billion and $44.5 billion, “which assumes healthy member growth, higher subscription pricing and a rough doubling of our ad revenue.”
Analysts have raised the possibility that Trump’s economic policies could lead to a recession that makes consumers reconsider their streaming spending.
“Having a diverse business model through subscription and a slow but rising ad-based tier will mitigate any risks from tighter consumer spending that could drive cancellations,” PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore said.
“Netflix is an indispensable service in users’ lives. It will be the last subscription that users will cancel given the broad and breadth of programming,” Pescatore said.
Consumers have flocked to Netflix’s lower-priced, ad-supported tier since its launch in late 2022. The company said this version of its service accounts for 55% of new sign-ups in countries where it is available.
In January, the company reported it had added a record 18.9 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2024.
This quarter, Netflix declined to disclose subscriber numbers in order to emphasize other performance metrics, including revenue and profit. Analysts have said they believe the change signals slower subscriber growth ahead.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
