I like Netflix. I immediately liked their DVD by mail service, and when I later started using their streaming service, I fell in love with it. I was able to catch up on several TV shows I'd put off watching for years. All three seasons of Arrested Development took me less than a week. It was a great way to unwind after work, or over lunch. It had a pretty good library, and it worked very well.
Netflix got a lot of attention for their unconventional policies:
At Netflix, the vacation policy is audaciously simple and simply audacious. Salaried employees can take as much time off as they'd like, whenever they want to take it. Nobody – not employees themselves, not managers – tracks vacation days.
They also got a lot of attention for the stock's uphill sprint. They could do no wrong. Until they messed up royally. The stock closed at $80.86 today, down from a high of nearly $305 just a few months ago.
This recent article, about Groupon, reminded me of Netflix's meteoric rise:
Only a few months ago, Groupon was the Internet's next great thing. Business media christened it the fastest growing company ever. Copycats proliferated. And investors salivated over the prospect of Groupon going public.The title, "Groupon is a Disaster," manages to succinctly convey the writer's opinion of the company. Time will tell whether Groupon and Netflix are solid companies who've hit rough patches, or whether they're two ships of fools who managed to stumble into favorable winds (and piles of money) en route to shipwreck.
A big company that turns out to be have been run by nitwits isn't exactly remarkable. BP's oil spill and Borders' last decade in existence are good examples of this. But it amazes me that there are so many tech giants with who can't definitively separate themselves from the Pets.coms and the Myspaces. Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and Twitter all have long lines of eager, would-be investors, and long lines of fawning journalists at their doors. Just like Netflix did a year ago.
