HackingNetflix Vacation

I'm taking a few days off to spend some time with my family. In January I started a new consulting job for a graphics software company, and the job involves travel and is keeping me very busy. I really need to unplug for a few days and recharge.

Here are some great sites to read while I'm at the beach: The Netflix Community Blog, Netflix Fan Blog, Movie Marketing Madness, Cinematech, Cinematical, Davis Freeberg's Digital Connection and Zatz Not Funny.

See you in a few days! - Mike

Comments

[prozac]

Enjoy your break....

[rambaldi47]

Have a good time!!

[Al]

Have fun! Off topic, the Friends thing is acting up again...

[Brian]

Have fun. In related news, the Netflix Queue now supports dragging movies to rearrange them.

[type-cast]

"the Netflix Queue now supports dragging movies to rearrange them."

Not for me. They must still be testing. Here is an odd story. A friend of mine decided to cancel cable to save money. They didn't want to let him go, so they offered a lower price for the same service. They really don't want to lose their mindless customers who pay the monthly fee for brainwashing and propaganda.

They'll let you barter a lower price, rather than let you leave. When I dropped the movie channels years ago, they kept giving them to me for years. They don't want us to leave or downgrade. They need us. We don't need them. And it scares them. You can live without the crap on TV. But they can't live without you.

[leonardodicrapio]

comcast in my area has started advertising (via the fliers that come weekly in my mail) instead of 3 for $33 each (or $99 total) that you can get 1, 2, or 3 of their services for $33 each. i think it includes digital cable with OnDemand (probably one converter box included), and the rate is guaranteed for two years.

Comcast's digital cable with OnDemand is normally $53, and Comcast's high-speed internet is normally $43 (and you used to have to be a cable tv customer to get that rate).

[Edward R Murrow]

Not sure if this is good, bad or ugly (BBI CFO steps down):
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.aspx?Feed=ACBJ&Date=20070621&ID=7069453&Symbol=BBI

[Edward R Murrow]

Could it be the rats are leaving a stinking ship:
http://www.form4oracle.com/company?cik=0001065280&ticker=nflx

I can't find another company with so many Officers and Directors selling shares under Form 4.

[leonardodicrapio]

"I can't find another company with so many Officers and Directors selling shares under Form 4."

You can't -- maybe because you aren't even trying. C'mon, Ed, why don't you just admit didn't look at one other company before you made the above statement?

"Insider Selling Ratio Near a 20-Year High"

http://www.businessweek.com/investing/insights/blog/archives/2006/12/insider_selling.html

[Edward R Murrow]

Dec-2006 is a lifetime ago...

[leonardodicrapio]

"Dec-2006 is a lifetime ago..."

Here's a link from the Middle Ages, then...

"FOOL'S SCHOOL DAILY Q&A

Is Insider Selling a Red Flag?
Not necessarily"

http://www.fool.com/foolu/askfoolu/2002/askfoolu020304.htm

Ed, insiders (CEO's, etc.) of most publicly traded companies are primarily compensated with stock options. When they excercise those stock options they will usually have tax liabilities in that tax year (usually due to the Alternative Minimum Tax). There are at least a few (but maybe as many as a few dozen) CEO's who have made over $100 Million in a single year due to compensation from stock options.

Reed Hastings is over-concentrated in Netflix stock. He excersizes his options on a weekly (planned sale) basis, and he sells the shares when he excercises the options. Reed is most likely making quarterly payments to the IRS, also.

[Edward R Murrow]

It's cool that Reed Hastings can work the system in his favor.

MoneyCentral on MSN gives NFLX a 'D' grade for the Ownership category because of the stock sell off by directors, executives and major shareholders:
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/StockRating/transparency.asp?Symbol=nflx#Ownership

[leonardodicrapio]

"It's cool that Reed Hastings can work the system in his favor."

Reed is the founder of Netflix. Working the system -- nice propaganda spin.

If you had made this argument about a CEO who joined a company and within a year or two was excercising stock options worth over $50 million I might agree with you, but your hatred of Reed betrays you.

[leonardodicrapio]

"Ownership

Grade: D
• Two or more executives, directors or major shareholders sold a small number of shares recently. Negative"

Netflix opened trading on June 5th at $21.34 (before the Amazon buyout rumor). Now it is trading at $19.96. That is a net drop of about 6-1/2% in the last three weeks. It went up over 20% in between, and the only insider transactions were planned sales by Hastings and Kilgore.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=NFLX

"American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source sell·off (sěl'ôf', -ŏf') Pronunciation Key
n. The sale or disposal of a relatively large number of stocks, bonds, or commodities that often causes a sharp decline in prices."

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/selloff

[leonardodicrapio]

"Ownership

Grade: D
• Two or more executives, directors or major shareholders sold a small number of shares recently. Negative

• Institutional holdings information is unavailable or inconsistent."

Where's the selloff of directors, executives, and major shareholders you said the D rating was alluding to?

Also, I meant to say NFLX opened at $19.96 today, so it has declined a little less than 6-1/2% in exactly three weeks.

[Edward R Murrow]

Leo, three posts in a row on the same subject? It's obvious that you feel very strongly about this stuff; make an effort to keep a lid on that OCD.

I'm not making MoneyCentral's rating up; if you have an issue about the 'D' grade that Netflix received in the Ownership category about stock being sold off then take it up with the MoneyCentral folks.

"...but your hatred of Reed betrays you."

I don't give a flying-F about Hastings; he's too much fun to goof on and it's fun to watch the Netflix Apologists come out of the woodwork to defend him.

Leo, one word of advice though - try and keep your unnatural affection for Reed in check because it continues to betray you.

[superfunhappy]

Let me get this straight. Mike goes on vacation and the lopsided half-wit that is "Murrow" decides to throw out an "golly, could this be bad" about Blockbuster and then immediately follows it up with a post about Netflix exec selling under a pre-planned arrangement? Well, let me say:

a) Mike, I hope you and yours had a great time relaxing.

b) "Edward R. Murrow" (by the way thanks for defiling the name) you contribute almost nothing. Anyone with any iota of intelligence sees through your consistent faulty logic. Any sort of fake "golly, maybe Blockbuster is doing only one thing wrong" posts are insulting to everyone.

We all know both Netflix and Blockbuster has faults and strengths. You, on the other hand, are either retarded, ignorant or attempting to be manipulative.

[Edward R Murrow]

"You, on the other hand, are either retarded, ignorant or attempting to be manipulative"

You guessed correctly - I am a retarded ignoramus suffering from Vulcan mind-meld manipulation by Carl Icahn. It's an incredible trifecta that's off the hook.

[gir]

Don't feed the trolls.

[Firstlawofnature]

Ed,

Be a man and admit you were just bitch slapped silly on that one.