Company News in Brief

Netflix beats investor forecasts in every major metric



Netflix added more than five million customers in the third quarter, and eclipsed Wall Street’s expectations on every major financial metric despite a new programming slate constrained by last year’s strikes in Hollywood.



Sales for the period grew 15% to US$9.83-billion, the company said in a shareholder letter on Thursday, while earnings increased to $5.40/share. Analysts were predicting Netflix would add 4.52 million subscribers.



Shares of Netflix have more than quadrupled since May 2022, when a slowdown in the company’s growth led to a major sell-off and spooked investors about the entertainment business. Since then, the company has added more than 60 million customers thanks to a crackdown on password sharing and the introduction of a lower-priced subscription with advertising.

-TECHCENTRAL



BHP reports copper boost, eyes Chinese stimulus



Mining giant BHP, which may be gearing up for another bid for Anglo American, reported a climb in both copper and iron ore production for its first quarter to end September, boosted by debottlenecking efforts at a port in Australia and higher grades at the world's largest copper mine, Escondida.



The miner on Thursday kept its 2025 guidance unchanged across its major commodities, which also includes coal and nickel, saying it saw a strong operational start to the year at Escondida, where production climbed 11% year on year. Total copper production rose 4% to 476 000 tonnes, while copper prices rose 17%. This remains a major focus area for the group, which expects demand for the ductile and conductive metal to rise 70% by 2050.



Copper is also seen as the major reason for its interest in Anglo American, with BHP abandoning a R900 billion bid at the end of May, with UK law requiring it to wait until the end of October for another takeover bid.

FIN24



Job cuts at WhatsApp and Instagram



Meta Platforms is laying off employees across units including Instagram, WhatsApp and Reality Labs, The Verge reported, citing people familiar with the matter. A Meta spokesman confirmed separately that a few of its teams were making changes to align with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy.



“This includes moving some teams to different locations and moving some employees to different roles. In situations like these when a role is eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for impacted employees,” the spokesman said.

The Verge report did not specify the exact number of job cuts but mentioned that they were small. Meta also did not comment on the numbers.



Separately, the Financial Times reported that Meta fired another two-dozen staff in Los Angeles for allegedly using their daily US$25 meal credits to instead buy household items including acne pads, wine glasses and laundry detergent.



These terminations are separate from the team restructurings and took place last week, the FT report said. Meta declined to comment on the FT report.



Meta has slashed around 21 000 jobs since November 2022 to keep costs low, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling 2023 the “Year of Efficiency”. Meta shares have jumped more than 60% this year.

-REUTERS