Huge blow to Netflix fans as platform ‘AXES new shows after massive subscriber loss’
NETFLIX has axed a number of new shows after losing a huge number of subscribers, according to reports
The subscription service's stock price fell by almost 40 per cent after it announced a loss of 200,000 subscribers - the first time its customer base had failed to grow in a decade - and it expects to lose millions more by June.
reports adaptations of Roald Dahl's The Twits, Jeff Smith's comic book series Bone and Lauren Faust's Toil and Trouble have all been stopped.
Feature film Bright 2, that was set to feature Will Smith, has also been binned, however, reports claim it could be due to the furore around the actor's infamous slap at the Oscars.
There's also been big personnel changes with Phil Rynda, Netflix's Director of Creative Leadership and Development for Original Animation, axed.
Netflix also announced it's cracking down on password sharing and an additional charge is in play.
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The company has long turned a blind eye to password sharing but a dip in new customers and a stock price downturn is forcing an internal reaction.
Netflix was founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in 1997 as a DVD-by-mail service.
The company pivoted to streaming in 2007 and have racked up over 220million subscribers - making them the largest subscription-based streaming service and one of the instigators of the cord-cutting movement.
Netflix is still led by Hastings - who is adorned with Silicon Valley badges of honour including a Masters' degree from Stanford, a billion-dollar net worth and eight-year stint on Facebook's board of directors.
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But on April 19, Hastings had bad news for all the people using the service for free with an ex's password.
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Netflix is planning to impose "password sharing fees" - an additional cost that allows paying subscribers to an additional account for someone outside their home.
The company started testing the additional fees in Central America last year - reporting by says members are asked to verify accounts outside of their home to weed out customers getting freebies.
