Netflix adds 13.1 million subscribers, tops revenue estimates as membership push gains steam

LOS ANGELES — Shares of Netflix jumped 7% after the closing bell Tuesday after the company reported adding 13.1 million subscribers during the fourth quarter.

Here are the results:

• Earnings: $2.11 per share vs. $2.22 per share expected by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv.
• Revenue: $8.83 billion vs. $8.71 billion expected by LSEG.
• Total memberships expected: 260.8 million vs. 256 million expected, according to Street Account

The company now has 260.8 million paid subscribers, a new record for the streamer.

In October, the company said it added 8.76 million paid memberships in the third quarter, pushing its total to 247 million. Wall Street expects Netflix to have continued that trend in the fourth quarter, with forecasts projecting another 8 million to 9 million paid membership adds, bringing the company to roughly 256 million.

Netflix took another step toward building subscribers when it announced earlier Tuesday that it would stream the popular WWE Raw starting next year. The deal is the streaming platform’s biggest step yet into live entertainment.

Netflix is still navigating its transformation from targeting subscriber growth to focusing on profit, using price hikes, password crackdowns and ad-supported tiers to boost revenue.

Investors got a sneak preview of growth in Netflix’s advertising-based plan earlier this month, when the company’s president of advertising, Amy Reinhard, told attendees at the Variety Entertainment Summit at CES that the company now has more than 23 million global monthly active users. That’s up from 15 million that the company reported in November.

It’s been less than a year since Netflix instituted its password crackdown, so it’s unclear how it has affected the company’s results and how much executives will share about it.