Netflix Reverses Loss, Adds Customers
Netflix Inc., the biggest mail-order service for renting digital videodiscs, earned $2.27 million in the fourth quarter as it signed up more subscribers.
The company reported net income of 7 cents a share, contrasted with a loss of $2.25 million, or 10 cents, a year earlier. Revenue at the Los Gatos, Calif., company rose 80% to $81.2 million. Netflix ended 2003 with 1.49 million customers, 74% more than a year earlier.
Netflix charges $19.95 a month for customers to order DVDs from its Internet site and keep as many as three at a time for as long as they want.
The company said it expected a first-quarter loss of $1.2 million to $3.7 million on revenue of $94 million to $99 million. Profit excluding some items will be $1 million to $3.5 million in the quarter.
Chief Executive Reed Hastings said the company hoped to launch its DVD movie rental service in Britain and Canada by 2005 and was developing a way to let consumers download movies.
Netflix shares rose as much as $6.59, to $72.39, in extended trading. Earlier they fell $1.95 to $65.80 on Nasdaq.
Bloomberg News and Reuters were used in compiling this report.
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