Netflix Posts Huge Q4 Profit Spike
So, just how big of a different can the Xbox 360 make? You’ve got to wonder based on the news yesterday that online DVD service Netflix has seen a jump in its fourth quarter profits of roughly 45 percent. This coincides nicely with Microsoft’s release of the New Xbox Experience, which incorporated the Netflix service, allowing Xbox LIVE Gold members with a subscription to the Netflix service to stream movies and TV shows to their televisions straight from the 360.
According to the numbers released yesterday, Netflix’s subscriber base grew by 27 percent last year to about 9.4 million subscriber total. Nearly three-quarters of a million of those subscriptions have been added since September, and the company expects to break the 10 million subscriber mark before the end of the first quarter of this year.
As a result of the increased subscriber base, Netflix posted increased profits of about 19 percent for the quarter to the tune of $23 million. The total profits for the year bumped up to a total of $360 million. And while there were no hard numbers attributed to Xbox LIVE members signing up for Netflix, it’s hard to imagine that appealing to some of LIVE’s 17+ million members, plus co-branding free trails with the console and the Xbox LIVE prepaid subscriptions didn’t have more than just a little impact.
The news was more than enough to make investors happy. In after hours trading, Netflix shares jumped up about seven percent to $32.30, after closing down less than one percent at $30.15 on Monday.
