‘A throng of companies are exiting the Russian market. Is this the best course of action? '
U.S. streaming company Netflix has confirmed its withdrawal from the Russian market, having previously been sued for wanting to do so.
The withdrawal means Russians can no longer access Netflix broadcasts and any subscriptions will be automatically canceled.
According to a company spokesperson, the Netflix app and website were out of service last Friday in Russia, at the end of the billing cycle for paid subscribers.
It is clear that Neflix's action was taken as a sign of protest and imposed sanctions on Russia against the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
It’s a commendable move as Netflix is seen upholding the rights of Ukrainians like McDonald’s and Nike acting out of Russia even though their businesses have long been established in the country.
Even so, the risk of the effects of this withdrawal would see Netflix lose another 700,000 paid subscribers to its streaming app.
Generally, the main problem faced by the company is the large decline in the number of subscriptions in a decade leading to poor first quarter earnings report records.
Not to forget, even though Russia is not Netflix's main market, the war crisis also contributed to the company's share price fall by 40% on April 20.
Meanwhile, as of this writing, Netflix shares traded up 1.98% at $ 195.19 with a company capitalization value of 86.72 billion.
