Jon Pay
Marketing 320
Professor Young
S.W.O.T. Analysis: NETFLIX (NFLX)
Company Background
Netflix made its grand premier in the late 1990’s thanks to internet tycoons Reed Hastings and
Marc Randolph with corporate headquarters in Los Gatos, California. Netflix ,rst allowed their
subscribers the ability to receive by (snail) mail a DVD that is rented without any restrictions
placed on returns, which usually cause late fees. This process became popular especially since it
was just an easy click away on their website to order a DVD. In 2002, Netflix had its Initial Public
O7ering (IPO) of 5.5 million shares valued at $15 per share with only 600,000 members when
the ,xed monthly rate for a subscription was $7.99 per month. Due to inventory issues among
many others, Netflix decided in 2007 to announce the ability to stream popular TV shows and
movies on personal devices. Today roughly 50 million subscribers are spread across the globe.
With all that preliminary information it’s time to delve deep into Netflix by performing a
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (S.W.O.T.) Analysis.
Strengths
Ask any person what Netflix is and without a doubt you will get some response along the
lines of T.V. streaming company online. A great thing is that Netflix has been around for a while
and by word of mouth, or by marketing everybody knows what Netflix is and what they o7er.
Since Netflix o7ers unlimited views of T.V. shows and no late fees, a person would guess a
membership fee would be too expensive. Luckily a membership for the basic features of Netflix
is only $7.99 per month which is a7ordable for everybody. Just over the past year Netflix’s stock
price was $320, and now it is trading at $460 which is a 43% increase, signi,cantly up from its
IPO of $15 per share! There are many reasons for the success of Netflix but most importantly is
the constant bringing in of new content and original T.V. Series. One of Netflix’s main goals is to
bring new content to Netflix the same time as a person could see it going to a movie theatre,
most likely paying $8.00 +. Recently it has accomplished this by working with Weinstein
company conveniently producing “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend,” which
