Shira Ovide: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wants to take over the world, but global domination won't easy. In January, Netflix opened for business in more than 130 countries at once. Look at the map of where Netflix service is available. Almost everywhere except China, North Korea, and Syria.
Netflix is betting the company on becoming the first global television network, yet selling Netflix in new places gets harder from here and the expansion is masking the company's problems at home.
In the US, Netflix is finding it tough to sign up customers. The number of new streaming subscribers fell 18% in the last quarter of 2015. Meanwhile, the number of international subscribers is growing fast. That global growth is a big reason stock investors fell in love with Netflix.
Now the bad news. The company's international business is losing money hand over fist, and Netflix faces many obstacles in new markets like India. There's competition from Amazon, local web video companies, and not everyone has access to the internet.
It has been a bad idea to underestimate Netflix. The company's market value is 14 times what it was 3 and 1/2 years ago. But the combination of tough sledding abroad and slowing growth domestically is a worrying trend.