Netflix is worth more than Disney. It’s hard to wrap your head around it, but the streaming service/original content factory's stock reached a record high on Thursday at $351.09 per share, giving the company a market cap of almost $162 billion, according to Variety.
On Wednesday, Netflix also surpassed broadcasting and cable TV giant Comcast: Netflix’s total market cap that day was $152.8 billion while Comcast’s was $147.5 billion.
As reported Wednesday, Comcast is ready to outbid Disney for the purchase of 21st Century Fox by millions of dollars. For reference, Disney offered allegedly offered $52.4 billion for the company when the deal was first announced in December; Comcast’s offer is reportedly in the $60 billion range, and in cash.
One reason Netflix is enjoying a surge in stock price is the recent announcement of a multi-year production deal with Barack and Michelle Obama, which generated significant interest. In conjunction with Monday's announcement, Netflix’s stock was up almost 4 percent.
However, it’s not just that: Netflix has been reporting higher than average numbers for some time now. In the first quarter of 2018, the company beat expectations for subscriber additions, coming it at 125 million users worldwide. Similarly, it reported a 40 percent rise in revenue year over year and a 64 percent increase in net income. Looks like those rate increases didn’t do much damage after all.
Of course, Netflix isn’t just rolling around in all that dough. The company plans to spend more than $8 billion on content just this year, 85 percent of which is set to go toward original programming, chief content officer Ted Sarandos said last week. (In August 2017, Sarandos estimated Netflix would spend $7 billion.) By the end of the year, Netflix hopes to have 1,000 original TV shows, movies, specials, and other pieces of programming; 80 films are apparently on the agenda.
