Netflix has seen off a challenge by shareholders that accused the streaming service of masking the full extent of how account-sharing was dampening growth.
The case was brought by a Texas-based investment group that sued Netflix in May 2022 after the company announced falling subscribers for the first time in more than a decade.
US District Judge Jon Tigar ruled there was no evidence that Netflix was aware of the problem for as long as the period claimed by the investors, who had bought Netflix shares between January 2021 and April 2022.
It has long been an open secret that many Netflix viewers were ‘borrowing’ the accounts of friends and relatives, but it wasn’t until March 2022 that the streamer began to double-down on the problem.
While there has been evidence of an initial dip in some markets, such as Spain, there has subsequently been a return to growth.
