Reed Hastings Buys $20M in Netflix Shares Amid Stock Slump

As Netflix’s stock price tumbled over the past week, co-CEO Reed Hastings pounced.

According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday evening, Hastings purchased approximately $20 million worth of Netflix shares Thursday and Friday, paying between $379 and $393 for the privilege.

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The purchases (made through a trust that Hastings controls), suggest that the Netflix co-founder and co-CEO (alongside Ted Sarandos) remains a believer in the company, and that the stock price tumble was a bump in the road, and not a permanent challenge.

Netflix stock fell since Jan. 21 after the company projected weaker subscriber growth going forward, causing a number of analysts to downgrade the company or take a more skeptical look at the streaming business. Earlier this month Netflix stock traded at over $612 per share, but as of end of day Friday it was trading at just over $384.

But Hastings was not the only buyer: The veteran hedge fund executive Bill Ackman said on Wednesday that he had purchased more than $1 billion in Netflix shares, arguing that the sell-off made the company a good deal.

“Many of our best investments have emerged when other investors whose time horizons are short term, discard great companies at prices that look extraordinarily attractive when one has a long-term horizon,” Ackman wrote in a letter to shareholders.

Hastings is already one of the company’s biggest shareholders, owning about 8 million shares in the company. His purchases this week only add to those holdings, except that unlike shares he is granted as part of his annual compensation, he is putting his money where his mouth is.

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