Netflix Becomes the World’s Most Valuable Entertainment Company

Netflix is now officially the world’s most valuable entertainment company.

It is no secret that Netflix is among the most popular streaming services around, and the streaming platform just added a new accolade to its collection: it is now the world’s most valuable entertainment company, even beating out Walt Disney Co. for the first time, according to the New York Post.

A monumental shift of viewers away from cable television and cinemas has led Netflix’s stock market value to balloon, ticking in at a record $153 billion on Thursday, up 2.3 percent, a value that completely eclipses Walt Disney Co., which has lost 5 percent over the past year.

Since its initial debut in 2002, when it still only offered a mail-order DVD service, the streaming platform’s shares have surged nearly 33,000 percent, and has placed itself among the likes of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook as a must-own stock for Wall Street investors. In 2018 alone, Netflix’s stock has surged 80 percent, more than any other company in the S&P 500.

News of the new title should not come as a surprise, considering that the streaming platform recently blew away projections with 7.41 million new subscribers in the first quarter of 2018, a 50 percent spike from that time last year. The surge was nearly a million more subscribers than what Wall Street analysts predicted. The surge brought Netflix’s subscriber total to 125 million subscribers across the world, whereas a year ago that number had ticked in at just 117.6 million.

The Los Gatos, California-based company’s total revenue has also skyrocketed, rising 43 percent since last year, totaling $3.7 billion for the first quarter, with Netflix announcing that its revenue gain was “the fastest pace in the history of our streaming business.”

A recent CNBC All-American Economic Survey also gave Netflix good news, with the survey finding that the company tallies 51 percent of American streamers, a number that beats both hat of Amazon and Hulu combined.

To keep the momentum and success going, the streaming platform announced that it is prepared to spend $7.5 billion on new content in 2018, with intentions to produce and release an estimated 700 TV shows and movies. At least 80 of the titles set to be produced and released are original productions from outside of the United States, like psychological thriller Dark, which is made in Germany.

The remaining content will consist of other Netflix original series and films, including hugely popular and successful series Stranger Things, and licensed content, such as AMC’s The Walking Dead.