• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

Fantasy Netflix M&A

After a less disappointing second quarter earnings report, Netflix appears to be vectoring in the right direction. And yet the stock is still trading 64 percent below its peak, and its officers and directors only own 2.4 percent of its shares in a single-class structure. It could be a pretty appetizing target in a rapidly consolidating entertainment-tech ecosystem.

Ted Sarandos and Reed Hastings
Netflix co-C.E.O.s Ted Sarandos and Reed Hastings. Photo: Todd Williamson/Getty Images
William D. Cohan
July 20, 2022

Now that Netflix’s much anticipated second-quarter earnings report is done and dusted—nearly one million subscribers lost instead of the projected attrition of two million—it’s as good a moment as any to speculate on the company’s future. Will it remain an independent publicly traded entity or get bought by a larger rival in what surely would be one of the largest blockbuster M&A deals of the era?