Following a quarterly subscriber loss that was much worse than expected, Netflix shares opened 37% down from their closing price Monday -- plunging $43.96, to $74.88 per share.
On Monday, Netflix said it lost 800,000 U.S. subscribers in the third quarter, after a disastrous marketing move to eliminate bundled DVD-plus-streaming plans. The change infuriated many customers, who suddenly found Netflix increasing monthly fees by as much as 60%.Netflix also lowered revenue and profit expectations for the fourth quarter, anticipating that it will lose at least 2.6 million DVD accounts in the period.
Since announcing the price change in July, Netflix's market capitalization has lost more than $11 billion of value, with shares falling from a 52-week high of $304.79 per share on July 13.
"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.
