Netflix Backtracks ? Abruptly Cancels Plan To Spin Off DVD Business
Provided by the Business Insider's Jay Yarow:
Netflix is already abandoning its controversial plan to spin out its DVD business and go streaming only.
It is giving up on the Qwikster brand, which would have been DVD-only. Netflix will keep both DVDs and streaming under one website, just like it always has.
Smart move! The DVDs are a major advantage over rivals in the streaming industry like Amazon and Hulu.
Plus, consumers absolutely hated the move.
CEO Reed Hastings wrote on the Netflix blog, "It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs."
The stock has been smashed in the last year, and the Qwikster decision is a big part of the reason why.
The stock is up 10% in the pre-market trading on the news. We'll see if investors are just negative on Netflix generally, or if they react positively to the quick reaction to customer feedback.