How Much Is Netflix Worth?

By Gail Kellner

March 19, 2021

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Netflix had a great year in 2020. Thanks to a global pandemic that forced millions of people to entertain themselves at home, Netflix added 37 million subscribers in 2020, surpassing 200 million subscribers overall for the first time. With hits like Shonda Rhimes’s “Bridgerton” and other hits like the miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit,” Netflix was able to capitalize on a captive audience and finish 2020 with a $542 million profit.

Netflix by the Numbers

About Netflix

Netflix Market Cap: $225.79 Billion

Market cap refers to the total value of all a company’s outstanding stock shares, which helps investors determine how big the company is. You can calculate it by multiplying the price of the stock by its total number of shares.

Netflix had a market cap high of $225.79 billion in 2020, which indicates the value the market places on the company. A value of over $225 billion makes Netflix a large-cap company. Large-cap companies are well-established companies that offer investors a solid reputation and steady growth. Netflix is currently the 35th most-valued company by market cap.

Netflix Net Worth: $30.48 Billion

To calculate net worth, GOBankingRates uses a formula based on assets, revenue and debt. This formula is a more conservative estimation of how a company is doing than its market cap range. Market cap is subject to the whims of investors and how the market feels about a company. Net worth takes more numbers into account.

Netflix borrowed 15 billion dollars in 2011, but the company plans to become cash neutral this year and cash positive after 2021. That’s good news for investors, as Netflix will no longer need outside financing to accomplish its goals. Netflix is planning to pay back outstanding debt and increase profitability.

Netflix took on debt in the past to fund its original programming and to buy licensed programming to show on its platform. This paid off in 2020, with a 22% increase in revenue, although net income declined 8%. An increase in revenue but a decrease in profit could indicate that Netflix is indeed paying down its debt. It could also indicate the business faced higher operating costs than anticipated.

Key Facts

• Netflix added 37 million subscribers in 2020.
• They will continue to focus on original content and licensed movies and series.
• Disney Plus had a huge launch in 2019 and remains Netflix’s biggest competitor.
• Netflix has also just spent a whopping $18 million dollars for the distribution rights for “The Ice Road”, a film starring Liam Neeson and Laurence Fishburne.

What’s Next For Netflix?

Netflix has come a long way since its early days of DVD rentals. The CEO, Reed Hastings, said he originally got the idea for Netflix when he was charged over $40 in late fees, although the company’s co-founder says they just wanted to be “the Amazon of something.”

Netflix will continue to develop new content to stay competitive. Netflix Originals content has helped the company grow its subscriber base to 37 million, with subscribers enjoying original content such as “The Queen’s Gambit” and “Bridgerton.” Shonda Rhimes’s series was watched by 63 million households in the first four weeks of 2021, and Rhimes has a multi-year deal to develop more content.

Netflix and the Pandemic

The pandemic definitely helped Netflix, but even as restrictions were lifted, Netflix continued to gain subscribers. New subscriber rates did slow down in the third and fourth quarters.

Netflix is the largest streaming service in the world with more subscribers than any other platform. However, streaming services such as Disney+, Amazon Prime and Hulu are gaining ground.

Disney+, in particular, is nipping at Netflix’s heels, having signed on 94.9 million subscribers since its launch in November of 2019. Disney+ offers tons of Disney and Pixar movies, alongside Marvel movies, Star Wars content and the long-running animated favorite “The Simpsons.” “The Mandalorian” was the most-watched streaming series in the U.S and became a pop-culture phenomenon.

Another Negative for Netflix

“The Office,” one of its most-watched licensed shows, left the platform to join NBC’s platform, Peacock. Subscribers are looking for the content they want to stream, and platforms will continue to battle to offer the variety that makes their platform uniquely valuable to consumers. Netflix will need to maintain strong offerings along with exclusive, original content to hold its appeal as competitors ramp up.

Netflix Expands Internationally

Netflix is currently available in virtually every country except China. It has expanded into 130 new markets since 2016 and plans to offer content to appeal to an international audience. New international content has included a number of hits, such as:

• “Dark” — Germany, 3 seasons
• “Money Heist” — Spain, 3 seasons
• “The House of Flowers” — Mexico, 3 seasons
• “Unorthodox” — Germany, one season
• “Kingdom” — South Korea, 2 seasons

Viewers can watch these shows in their native languages with subtitles or overdubbed. Not only did these international series introduce American viewers to different cultures, but they also helped fill the gap in content that resulted because some series had to halt production during COVID-19.

Changes in Leadership

In July of 2020, Ted Saranos was appointed co-CEO to serve alongside Reed Hastings. Ted Saranos has been involved with Netflix since 1999 and will continue to serve as the Chief Content Officer. For the past few years, Mr. Saranos earned as much as Mr. Hastings did, both taking home salaries of about $30 million a year. Mr. Saranos is often the face of Netflix at public and investor events.

There is no word on when or if Reed Hastings will step down as CEO, although he seems to imply that he will eventually, saying, “These changes are part of a long process of succession planning.”

The Future of Netflix

Netflix being cash-flow positive in 2021 is certainly a positive direction for the streaming giant. The company expects to maintain positive cash flow going forward in 2021 and beyond. Indications that it plans to offer buybacks also point to a bright future. Competition from other streaming services grows more intense, but Netflix seems well-positioned to take on the challenge.

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Sean Dennison contributed to the reporting for this article.

Methodology: The GOBankingRates Evaluation assesses a company’s net worth based on the company’s total assets, total liabilities, and revenue and net income from the last three years. Base value is established by subtracting total liabilities from total assets from the company’s last full fiscal year. Income value is established by taking the average of the revenue from the last three full fiscal years, plus 10 times the average of the net profits from the last three full fiscal years, and then calculating the average of those two figures. The final GOBankingRates Evaluation number is the sum of the base value and the income value.

About the Author

Gail Kellner

Gail Kellner is a freelance writer specializing in personal finance and investing. She has written for Bankrate, Retireable, MoneyGeek, and a host of other small business websites. She is located on the east coast, in Massachusetts where she lives with her sons and her husband.