On the heels of Netflix announcing it would be raising its prices for users, shares of the streaming company hit a record high of $198.92 before settling at $198.02 on Friday, just a day after the controversial announcement.
The service is worth more than the combined value of 21st Century Fox, Viacom and CBS with a market cap of $85 billion, The Hollywood Reporter reports.
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Netflix said on Thursday that its most popular plan would increase $1 to $10.99 per month, and the stock was up 2 percent before rising an additional 2 percent on Friday.
The company attributed the hike to its desire to spend more on original content. Although some market analysts are concerned that Netflix is acquiring too much debt to satisfy this desire, many applaud the effort.
Wells Fargo Securities analyst Ken Sena adds that the price hike is great news for Disney, which is in the process of creating its own streaming service for Pixar, Marvel, Disney-branded movies and TV shows, as well as Star Wars content.
The analyst predicts that the new service will be priced at $9.99 per month two years from now.
“We think Netflix’s price hike not only supports our model, but suggests there could be an upside,” Sena wrote.
