Netflix shares rise all-sessions after cost-cutting announcement

[MongiIG]

Content streaming business Netflix has announced that it will restructure its film unit to make fewer movies each year. Part of the process will also see it centralise decision-making.

 Jeremy Naylor | Analyst, London | Publication date: Friday 31 March 2023 

It will combine units that produce small and midsize pictures, a change the company says will result in a handful of layoffs.

Netflix is slightly higher all-sessions on the IG platform on this Friday morning, holding on to recent gains that we've seen for the stock.

It's restructuring its film group to make fewer movies each year and try to centralise its decision making. Now this is a cost cutting exercise, so it's no real surprise that we've seen the markets wanting to hold on to the gains that we've seen at Netflix.

Bloomberg is reporting that Netflix will combine its units that produce small and mid-size pictures, a change it says will result in some layoffs.

Share price chart

Let's take a look at the share price chart and I think you can see that the recent gains we've had way down here, the lows that we saw back on the 13th of March at $285. We're currently trading at 33975. As I said, just opened all-sessions on the IG platform with a small rise on the day.

Lisa Nishimura, who led Netflix into stand up comedy and original documentaries, will depart after more than 15 years at the company. And Ian Bricke, a vice president of the film group, is also leaving after more than a decade. Bricke helped make the Kissing Booth, the movie franchises that Netflix has produced.

So you can see at the moment we're up by a margin of almost half of 1%. But I think the bottom line is, it's holding onto the gains. This is essentially a cost-cutting exercise and a reduction of risk. But what it means for the long-term remains to be seen. It's all about Netflix and the competitors and the competitors are now getting into sports which Netflix doesn't yet do.