Published 10:16 IST, July 18th 2020
Netflix promotes Ted Sarandos to co-CEO, anticipates growth to slow down
Netflix Inc has revealed that they have promoted their content chief Ted Sarandos to co-CEO and that it forecasts growth to slow in the second half of 2020.
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Netflix Inc has revealed that they have promoted their content chief Ted Sarandos to co-CEO, the promotion that was announced on July 16 means that Sarandos has become an undeniable successor to co-founder Reed Hastings. According to reports, Sarandos’s promotion comes at a time when the streaming platform expects its growth to slow significantly.
Netflix growth projected to slow down
As per reports, Sarandos will continue with his role as head of content operations and Hasting has claimed that he and Sarandos would both work full time as co-CEO. Hastings also clarified that he does not have any plans to step down any time soon.
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According to reports, Netflix gained 10.1 million streaming subscribers from April to June primarily due to the coronavirus which caused people to embrace the concept of online viewing, but for the months of July to August, it predicts that it will add 2.5 million new paid subscribers. This number is down from the projected 5.3 million subscribers that were projected by analysts. During the pandemic people were told to stay at home and not leave their homes or interact with others, this led to a huge boost in the streaming services subscriber numbers.
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But as a result of countries lifting restrictions, Netflix has reportedly informed its shareholders that it expects less growth in the second half of 2020. Recently Netflix’s shares plunged by 9.5 per cent after being considered one of the biggest gainers of the pandemic. The streaming website now boasts almost 193 million paying customers.
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But Netflix also reportedly faces stiff competition as it tries to win new customers and retain old ones. Walt Disney Co's Disney+ became available to customers last November and contains almost the entire collection of Disney Franchises movies ranging from The Avengers to Star Wars. HBO Max also launched in May.
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Last Quarter, Netflix saw a lot of large releases such as Space Force, Too Hot to Handle and many others. Despite the pandemic, the schedule for upcoming releases of 2020 has reportedly remained intact and Netflix has recently announced that it plans to release even more original TV shows and movies in 2021 than the number released in 2020.
10:16 IST, July 18th 2020