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NETFLIX Free Resources
But enough gushing. How ...
But enough gushing. How did NetFlix manage to make it through these hard times? It relies on word-of-mouth recommendations (like I've done) instead of expensive ad campaigns, and offers great customer service to keep us happy (for example, if a DVD is damaged or skips, it'll immediately send you a new one, no questions asked). It's also been lucky--DVDs have rocketed to popularity faster than many anticipated.
The Netflix Effect
STILL WAITING FOR VIDEO-ON-DEMAND? FORGET FAT PIPES - WATCH YOUR MAILBOX. SPECIAL DVD BONUS: WATCH THE VIDEO RENTAL GAME GET SHAKEN TO ITS CORE!
By Jeffrey M. O'Brien
On the first Friday of every month, the employees of Netflix, a Silicon Valley DVD rental company, head to a charming local movie theater for a noontime morale boost. Dressed dotcom-casual in shorts and sandals, they scarf pizza and mill around before the main attraction: a mild hazing for new recruits and an update on the company's growth figures, which so far have been impressive.
Carlos Serrao
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: enemy number one of Blockbuster and Walmart.com.
Today, though, founder and CEO Reed Hastings has a different message to deliver. "A year and a half ago, we found out that Walmart.com doesn't want to work with us, but work on us," says Hastings, dwarfed by a huge PowerPoint projection. There have been rumors, but this is real. The world's largest corporation, with $218 billion in annual sales more than 1,500 times the size of Netflix, in case you're curious is gunning for an upstart that went public in May on negative earnings. Consumers love the Netflix rental model, which lets subscribers order DVDs online, receive them by mail, and keep them for as long as they want without late fees. Walmart.com likes it so much that it's launching a nearly identical service early next year. "They're printing packaging that is essentially identical to ours," Hastings informs the crowd.
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