• The Information reports that Netflix, which is expected to spend as much as $19 billion this year on content acquisition and development as it competes with the likes of Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and other streaming services, has cautioned employees "to be more mindful about spending and hiring."
The context:
"Netflix has long had a reputation for spending top dollar on content and allowing employees free rein to hire as necessary. Comments from executives suggest the company will slow down the rate of hiring. Its global headcount has expanded 59% over the past three years, to 11,300 at the end of 2021 … But Netflix for the first time ever is confronting a sustained slowdown in subscriber growth. Its subscriber count rose 8.9% in the fourth quarter, compared with 21.9% a year earlier, and it forecasts growth slowing to 8% in the first quarter … And the growth rate may be slower than projected, as Netflix suspended its Russian service after Russia invaded Ukraine. Netflix has between 1 million to 2 million subscribers in Russia, the company told employees, according to one of the people."
• From the Wall Street Journal:
"Amazon.com Inc. is stepping up plans for its proposed fleet of internet satellites that would compete with a service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, buying dozens of space launches from three rocket companies.
"Amazon’s Project Kuiper said it secured up to 83 planned launches that would ferry satellites to orbit over a five-year stretch. The unit of the Seattle-based e-commerce giant hasn’t sent up any satellites yet, though it has said it will have two prototypes launched this year.
"Project Kuiper and SpaceX, whose formal name is Space Exploration Technologies Corp., are among the businesses and government agencies racing to send broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit, in some cases and markets betting they can compete with traditional broadband providers.
"Amazon’s new planned launches depend on larger rockets still under development that must show they can fly as expected. The launch companies hired to take Project Kuiper’s satellites into orbit, including Blue Origin LLC, have faced delays in developing those rockets. Executives from those launch companies declined to say when they may start blasting the Amazon unit’s satellites into orbit under the new deals."
