Looks like Netflix is NOT happy with its CEO

[dixiegrrrrl]

Netflix CEO Loses Half of Stock Options Allowance

Netflix Inc. (NFLX), the online and mail- order video service predicting losses for next year, cut the annual stock-option allowance for Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings by half to $1.5 million.

Hastings will receive a salary of $500,000 for 2012, unchanged from this year, according to a regulatory filing today. His annual stock option allowance for 2011 was $3 million, according to a filing a year ago.

Netflix shares have dropped 75 percent from their all-time closing high of $298.73 set on July 13 as the company battled a subscriber revolt over price increases and other changes to its mail-order and streaming services. In October, Netflix projected losses in 2012 as it expands to the U.K.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-22/netflix-ceo-hastings-annual-stock-option-allowance-cut-in-half.html

Rumors of buyouts of Netflix continue, btw....

[Scuba]

1. Poor guy'll probably have a had time making payments on his third home. n/t

[FSogol]

2. Netflix sent me an extra disk for the holidays.

I'm surprised they didn't find a replacement for Hastings.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. They sent almost everyone a free disc.

Hacking Netflix just had 2 posts on it.

http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2011/12/all-netflix-dvd-customers-are-getting-a-free-rental.html

took them 4 days to get it to me, tho.

[matt819]

4. So?

I'm not going to get on the hate Netflix bandwagon. Notwithstanding their missteps this year, they have an excellent service.

As for Hastings's stock option allowance, this is as it should be. He blew it, and he's paying a price. If the board still has confidence in him, then he'll keep his job. If not, then he's out. At least he's making a reasonable salary for a CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, and it's likely, if he does leave, that he's not going to leave with an 8-figure bonus. Again, this is as it should be, and we should be, if not celebrating this, at least acknowledging that this how things should go.

[Merlot]

5. How often does a company take away executive stock options?

I've never heard of it in US. Usually, they get a golden parachute. It's good to see compensation based on performance for a change.

It's to bad Netflix made such a big PR disaster last summer. I really love them and their service. Thanks to Netflix I have freedom from network TV commercials and cable channels I don't want. Yet I still get to watch the HBO/Showtime/Comedy Central stuff that I like.