Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) has announced that its earnings release and business outlook will be released on its investor relations website at http://ir.netflix.com on Wednesday, January 25, 2012 after the close of trading. The good news is that some investors will take this to mean that the company is not going to issue any further earnings warnings now that it has set a date. The bad news is that the release is still going to be on the website rather than through the newswires.
Investors do not trust Netflix and they do not like when a company thinks it is not obligated to spend the $250 for a press release with the information rather than spending the money anyway with a website redirect. It simply notes, “At that time the company will issue a brief advisory release via newswire containing a link to the fourth-quarter 2011 financial results and letter to shareholders on its website.” Does it need the pageviews on its website that bad? Really!
Another issue to take is that Netflix “live Q&A session” at 3 PM EST (6 PM EST) to discuss the results and business outlook will not feature any live Q&A. The company said that it will be “with questions submitted via email” and those questions can be emailed to [email protected] and noted “The company will read the questions out on the call and respond to as many questions as possible.” In short, they are filtering the questions on top of filtering the person who gets to ask a question.
Reed Hastings is not the hero and behemoth he was a year ago. He needs to learn from history. Put the earnings release out on the wires and answer questions from analysts and the media. This is not just his billions at stake.
JON C. OGG
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