The company said it is now able to generate more cash than it needs, and no longer anticipates having to borrow money to fuel its growth strategy.
Netflix shares were up 12% in after-hours trading.
The streaming television leader added some 8.5 million paid
subscribers in the quarter to reach 203 million, topping 200 million despite
recent price hikes, its quarterly earning update showed.
Profits dipped to US$542 million in the fourth quarter,
compared with US$587 million in the same period in 2019. But overall revenue in
the quarter surged 21.5 per cent to US$6.6 billion.
For the full year, Netflix added a record 37 million paid
memberships, according to the earnings report.
“We’re enormously grateful that in these uniquely
challenging times we’ve been able to provide our members around the world with
a source of escape, connection and joy while continuing to build our business,”
Netflix said in a letter to investors.
Paid membership increased 23 per cent in the final quarter
of 2020 when compared with the same period a year earlier, but average revenue
per membership was flat, according to the Silicon Valley based company.
While Netflix raised rates slightly in the US late last
year, the majority — some 83 per cent — of its new subscribers were from outside
North America, the earnings report indicated.
Films to launch
Netflix has invested heavily in original shows and films to
make itself a must-have service in the increasingly competitive streaming
television market.
Apple, Comcast, Disney and others have taken on Netflix with
streaming television services of their own
“The big growth in streaming entertainment has led legacy
competitors like Disney, WarnerMedia and Discovery to compete with us in new
ways, which we’ve been expecting for many years,” Netflix said in the letter.
“This is, in part, why we have been moving so quickly to
grow and further strengthen our original content library across a wide range of
genres and nations.”
Netflix executives said its productions are back up and
running in most regions after being derailed by the pandemic.
Netflix boasted having more than 500 titles in
post-production or being readied for release on the service, with the plan
being to launch at least one new original film weekly.
Already the master of the pandemic-era movie landscape,
Netflix last week offered a preview of upcoming 2021 releases, a list with no
fewer than 70 star-studded feature films.
From drama, comedy and science fiction to horror and even
Westerns, the slate will take in every major film genre before the year is out,
with some releases poised as potential competition for major awards.
Among the most-anticipated titles is Don’t Look Up, from
filmmaker Adam McKay of The Big Short and Vice fame and starring Leonardo
DiCaprio.
The Harder They Fall, a Western co-produced by Jay-Z and
with a primarily Black cast including Regina King and Idris Elba, also promises
to be one to look out for.
The announcement — via a brochure on the streamer’s website
— was accompanied by a short video presented by Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot,
Jumanji lead Dwayne Johnson and Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds.
Johnson, Gadot and Reynolds will appear in Red Notice, an
action film with a US$160 million budget, according to US media
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