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Netflix Secures International Rights to Studio Ghibli Animated Films:
The iconic animated features of Japan's Studio Ghibli will be available in territories outside the U.S., Canada and Japan on Netflix starting in February. The move is a further change of position for the studio which has repeatedly resisted the idea that its beloved cartoons would be released on digital platforms.
Netflix, sales agent Wild Bunch, and Studio Ghibli, which counts Hayao Miyazaki as one of its leading lights, will upload 21 Ghibli features including Academy Award-winner "Spirited Away," "Princess Mononoke," "Arrietty," "Kiki's Delivery Service," "My Neighbor Totoro," and "The Tale of The Princess Kaguya."
They will be screened in their native Japanese, with sub-titles, and be available globally on Netflix except in the U.S., Canada, and Japan.
"In this day and age, there are various great ways a film can reach audiences. We've listened to our fans and have made the definitive decision to stream our film catalogue. We hope people around the world will discover the world of Studio Ghibli through this experience," said producer Toshio Suzuki at Studio Ghibli in a prepared statement.
[...] "This is a dream come true for Netflix and millions of our members. Studio Ghibli's animated films are legendary and have enthralled fans around the world for over 35 years. We're excited to make them available in more languages across Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia – so that more people can enjoy this whimsical and wonderful world of animation," Aram Yacoubian, director of original animation at Netflix, said.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @06:28AM (26 children)
Last year they lost $3 billion, so losing $2.5 billion is an improvement. North American subscribers are growing at an ever-decreasing rate, so they are offering cheap subscriptions overseas to pump their subscriber numbers even though that obviously means lower margins. Oh, they are also playing tax deferment games to pump their EPS and changed the metric for a viewer from watching 70% of a movie/episode to 2%.
Lots of desperation from this company that is like $10 billion in debt and actually losing $110 dollars per year on every new customer.
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @06:35AM (19 children)
So, Uber? OK, Boomer!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @10:06AM (3 children)
There are a lot of companies in this category, it is the end game of the central bank run socialist economic system we have. All the idiots have been misallocatting resources for long enough that things are getting absurd. Trump is saying in speeches he wants negative interest rates but in the same speech asks who is dumb enough to give out such loans. The EU is obviously more socialist so they already have such nonsense.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @05:19PM (1 child)
You don't even understand the words you are using...
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @05:38PM
No, YOU do not understand the words I am using. No doubt you were taught the nazis weren't socialists, the Soviets weren't communists, etc.
Stalin and Mao didn't kill millions of people, those people just couldn't adjust to their new low calorie diet.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday January 23 2020, @08:37PM
And Netflix is NOT one of them.
Netflix is growing at a stunning rate — and so is its profit [marketwatch.com]
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday January 23 2020, @05:52PM (14 children)
It's a blatant lie anyway. Netflix has been very profitable for a long time. See below.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @08:22PM (13 children)
I really can't get over how this account has never said a single correct thing since I started reading this site. Literally every single post is wrong. How do you survive?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday January 23 2020, @08:29PM (12 children)
Mostly by citing my sources.
‘The Witcher’ and ‘The Crown’ boost Netflix profit, but growth slows in U.S. [latimes.com]
Netflix Undershoots U.S. Subscriber Adds for Q3, Beats Profit Forecast [variety.com]
Netflix's profit skyrocketed last quarter due to moderate growth in content and marketing costs, but the company may never produce as much free cash flow as bulls expect. [fool.com]
That's the fun part about living in objective reality.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Thursday January 23 2020, @08:56PM (11 children)
That third article you linked (fool.com) actually explains that Netflix is still operating at a loss, and that earlier estimates that it would be cash-flow positive by 2022 may have been optimistic.
Key quotes from linked article:
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday January 23 2020, @09:24PM (10 children)
Profit and free cash flow are not the same thing. [intuit.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @09:28PM (4 children)
Lol, there is just no helping you. Why are you looking at profit when it is not relevant to Netflix's business model (which amortizes cost over up to a decade)?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday January 23 2020, @09:36PM (3 children)
Consider this scenario:
I buy a house with a loan.
I rent that house out to someone who pays me enough to cover the mortgage, all taxes, all maintenance, and still pocket $100 dollars at the end of each month.
Am I making money or am I losing money?
Because, purchasing that house put me at negative cash flow.
But, the $100 of profit per month is still going into my bank account.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @09:58PM (2 children)
Great analogy for making $1.8 B and buying $14 B worth of stuff while taking out a $4.5B loan.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday January 24 2020, @12:31AM
Or an accurate portrayal of how nearly every business on the planet funds expansion.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday January 24 2020, @06:31PM
Don't forget the insurance fraud [schlockmercenary.com]!
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Thursday January 23 2020, @10:24PM (4 children)
Sure, but Netflix are burning a lot more money than they're making. In most people's assessment, that means they're losing money.
Just to make sure we're on the same page here - do you agree that Netflix is spending more than they're earning right now? Call it investment if you will - but do you agree that more money is going out than in at the moment?
Your house analogy is an interesting one. Borrowing money for an investment property is not a bad idea, as the value of your initial investment (the property) usually increases over time while you also hopefully make an operating profit in the short term. In Netflix's case, the money they pour into making new shows is not nearly so long-lived. Those investments do not become more valuable over time - they rapidly diminish in value. Netflix really needs to recoup their money on making shows quickly, as they are earning less from those titles every year now (where 'earning' for them means 'attracting new subscribers or keeping existing subscribers' because of the presence of that show). I enjoyed Orange is the New Black, but I've watched it now - it does not keep me tied to Netflix any more.
This is what investors are worried about. If Netflix can't demonstrate a plan to consistently earn more from each investment they make over the long term, then they can't show a path to long-term profitability. Right now, they are spending more on making shows than they are earning from those shows.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday January 23 2020, @10:38PM (3 children)
No, I don't. The only actual money going out are the loan PAYMENTS, not the total amount of the loan or the amount that loan allows them to spend. And if they can cover those payments plus all the other costs associated with running the business and have money left over that's profit, aka, making money.
Whether or not they have too much debt is a perfectly reasonable worry. However, it doesn't affect whether they are currently making money or not.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @11:17PM (2 children)
Nope, ~$600 million in interest payments went out in 2019. About 20x that ($14 billion) went out for content creation.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday January 24 2020, @12:20AM (1 child)
This is accounted for in the operational costs(e.g. subtracted from profit): Nope, ~$600 million in interest payments went out in 2019.
This is the loan they are paying the interest on: About 20x that ($14 billion) went out for content creation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 24 2020, @12:49AM
Nope, net income (profit) is an input to free cash flow, not vice versa.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday January 23 2020, @05:49PM (5 children)
Why is it OK to just pull random shit out of your ass and act like it's fact?
Netflix Gross Profit 2006-2019 | NFLX [macrotrends.net]
Netflix surges on user gains, strong profits [phys.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @06:34PM (4 children)
Lol, keep looking at the wrong numbers.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday January 23 2020, @08:33PM (3 children)
Netflix reports 4Q profit of $587 million [mercurynews.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23 2020, @08:51PM (2 children)
First you looked at annual gross profit, now you looked at quarterly net profit.
That is still not the number you want to be looking at my friend. I'm sure you can do a bit more research based on the parent AC post.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday January 24 2020, @12:27AM (1 child)
Net is the correct number. You were right that gross was incorrect because it doesn't account for capital expenditures.
I have provided citations for 2019 Q2, Q3 and Q4 in this thread for net profit. If there is a quarter where they did not profit why don't you provide a citation for a change.
When they use the word profit they mean profit. Jeebus, who knew this was some kind of controversial claim!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 24 2020, @02:31AM
No net income/profit is not the correct number. It is free cash flow.