Netflix troubles

Netflix announced this week that their subscribers grew by 8.3 million in the 4th quarter.

The company on Thursday forecast an increase of 2.5 million subscribers in the current quarter, compared with four million a year earlier. It also slightly missed its subscriber estimate for the fourth quarter, adding 8.3 million subscribers instead of the projected 8.5 million.

Netflix stock fell 20% in after-hours trading, while shares of its main streaming rival, Walt Disney Co. , were down 3.4%.

It's not so much the increase in subscribers, but that the increase isn't enough to satisfy the stock gurus. Netflix revenue went up 16%, to $7.71-billion. That's a lot of money, but not enough for some people. And, their stock fell 20% because of that.

Think about if your income went up 16% in three months, and people were disappointed in you. But, that's how things work in business.

Netflix offers a lot of content that people like. A lot of people like it, and spend over $2-billion/month to do use the service. And that is disappointing investors. So, what'll happen? Probably not much. Well, maybe Netflix will have less original programming. Or more. I don't know. All I know is that it's a valuable part of the Streaming Life of a lot of people. I hope it streamers continue to have good options.