Netflix lost more U.S. subscribers in the third quarter than it anticipated as the fallout from price hikes continued to hurt the company.
The provider of streaming video services and DVDs through the mail ended the quarter with 23.79 million unique U.S. subscribers, down from 24.59 million customers in the previous three-month period. That means the results were worse than anticipated: In September, Netflix had forecast ending the third quarter with 24 million domestic customers.
“Our primary issue is many of our long-term members felt shocked by the pricing changes, and more of them have expressed that by cancelling Netflix than we expected," Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells wrote in a letter to shareholders.
As a result, Netflix said its revenues and profits in the fourth quarter will be lower than the company had thought, although Netflix noted it would remain profitable on a global basis. Netflix also anticipates that domestic DVD subscriptions will decline sharply in the fourth quarter.
Following its results, Netflix’s stock suffered a beating with shares plunging 27 percent in extended trading.
Netflix operates in Canada, the United States and 43 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the company plans to expand to Ireland and the United Kingdom early next year.
The company ended the quarter with 1.48 million international subscriptions, up from a hair under 1 million in the second quarter.
