|
NETFLIX Free Resources
Blockbuster also plans t...
Blockbuster also plans to test an annual subscription rate for customers who want to avoid late fees. For $59.99, customers who pay for a basic video rental won't have to return the film all year. "The upfront fee says you don't have to pay late fees," she said.
update Online DVD-rental company Netflix made its Wall Street debut Thursday, playing well to fans in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The company set an initial price of $15, at the top of its previously announced $13 to $15 range. It closed at $16.75 Thursday after rising as high as $17.40, or 16 percent.
Netflix said it would use the $82.5 million raised in the initial public offering to pay off $13.7 million in debt and for general purposes. The offering was underwritten by Merrill Lynch, Thomas Weisel Partners and U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray.
The company charges consumers a $19.95 per month for a subscription that allows them to choose movies online and have them shipped out via first-class mail. Subscribers return the DVDs using enclosed mailers. There are no late fees. Customers can rent as many movies as they want during a month but can only have three movies out at a given time.
Netflix says it has more than 600,000 customers, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It lost $4.5 million in the first three months of this year, a sharp decrease from the $20.6 million it lost in the year-ago quarter. Revenue almost doubled year over year, rising from $17.1 million in the first quarter of 2001 to $30.1 million in the first quarter of 2002.
|
