Marking a minor victory, Netflix’s stock (NASDAQ:NFLX) rocketed on Thursday to the point where the streaming video and television group briefly overtook Disney as the world’s most valuable media company.
During yesterday’s trading session, Netflix’s market cap climbed higher than US$153bn, eclipsing Disney’s market value, which fell below $152bn for a few hours.
But Netflix’s coup was fleeting as the video company pared back its gains to finish with a market value of US$151.8bn against Disney’s market value of US$152.2bn by the closing bell.
Netflix is spending heavily on its content in order to drive subscriber growth around the world and fend off competition from the likes of Disney, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Hulu.
The success of Netflix’s roster of shows that includes 'The Crown' and 'Stranger Things', has drawn millions of new subscribers to the streaming service in recent years.
Disney, meanwhile, is also throwing itself into the web streaming ring and looking for ways to compete.
It has plans to introduce a rival Disney streaming service next year and it is also attempting to purchase the majority of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox assets. If its bid for Fox is not derailed by a rival offer from Comcast, it would throw up the chance for Disney to provide more original content for its new streaming service.
In pre-market trade, Netflix shares were flat at US$349.29 and so were Disney’s at US$102.08.
Later in the session, Netflix added 0.805 to US$352.09. Disney shares added 0.12% to US$102.23.