Netflix stock faces a punishing day as Reed Hastings departs. Don’t blame his exit on WBD, bosses say |
Netflix stock faces a punishing day as Reed Hastings departs. Don’t blame his exit on WBD, bosses say
In its first earnings report since it walked away from the mega deal, the streaming giant shared unexpected news that investors clearly don’t love.
Reed Hastings [Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images]
Shares of Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) are getting battered this morning, one day after the company reported its Q1 2026 financial results—the first since the streaming giant abandoned its plans to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in February.
In addition to its quarterly earnings, Netflix also announced a bombshell: its cofounder and current chairman, Reed Hastings, will be exiting the company this June.
The departure of Hastings, who has been the de facto face of the company since its inception, has left many investors wondering about Netflix’s future.
Here’s what you need to know.
On Thursday, Netflix announced its Q1 2026 financial results. And for all intents and purposes, the results were pretty good.
For the quarter, Netflix reported $12.25 billion in revenue, representing a 16.2% growth from the same quarter a year earlier. It also announced a diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.23, which was significantly higher than its EPS of 66 cents in the quarter a year earlier.
As noted by CNBC, Netflix’s Q1 revenue of $12.25 billion surpassed LSEG analysts’ expectations of $12.18 billion. That’s something investors always cheer. The company’s EPS of $1.23 also massively surpassed the 76 cents that analysts expected.
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