Netflix Updates Guidance

Los Gatos, Calif. Netflix Inc. said Monday that it ended the third quarter with fewer subscribers than it had anticipated and that fourth-quarter subscribers will fall short of expectations as well.

"Net subscriber growth in July was in line with expectations but August was unusually weak", said CFO Barry McCarthy. "In September, the business regained momentum with results slightly below original expectations, likely due to the economic climate."

For the fourth quarter, Netflix now expects to have 8.95 million to 9.25 million subscribers, down from the earlier estimate of 9.1 million to 9.7 million.

Revenue also has been revised downward to a range of $353 million to $359 million from a previous projection of $357 million to $367 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had been expecting fourth-quarter revenue of $363.6 million.