Netflix reported fourth-quarter results showing a $0.56 per-share profit and $12.05 billion in revenue, and it reached 325 million global paid subscribers as membership growth, higher prices, and ad sales lifted results. Investors still pushed the stock down more than 4% in after-hours trading, as they weighed mounting competitive pressure and rising program costs.
Net income for the quarter totaled $2.42 billion, up from $1.87 billion a year earlier, and revenue rose about 18% year over year. The ad-supported tier helped drive growth, with ad sales rising to more than $1.5 billion after growing roughly 2.5 times year over year.
Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said the company will focus on improving its core business while increasing content variety and quality, and he added “Looking ahead to ’26 we’re focused on improving the core business, you know, and we do that by increasing the variety and quality of our series and films.”
Co-CEO Greg Peters said the company saw broad strength across regions and content categories and stressed that no single title drives most acquisition or engagement, stating “At a high level, we’ve seen broad strength across content categories, across all regions.”
Netflix in December offered an all-cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery assets, valuing the deal at about $72 billion and $27.75 per WBD share, and it paused buybacks to help fund the purchase (Ed. note: lawmakers and observers have raised antitrust concerns). Shares have fallen nearly 30% since October amid deal speculation and higher content costs.
