“Stranger Things” just passed Mickey Mouse.
Shares of Netflix hit another all-time high on Thursday, inching up one percent and pushing past $348 a share. In the process, Netflix jumped past Disney’s market cap for the first time ever. Yes, Netflix is more valuable than Disney — at least right now.
Netflix now sports a market cap of $151.8 billion, eclipsing Disney’s market cap of $151.7 billion after a slight dip on Thursday. It’s a feather in the cap for Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who has seen the company’s stock jump more than 75 percent since the start of 2018.
The Los Gatos, California-based company reported a strong Q1 financial report last month, but Netflix’s growth has been the primary driver of its Wall Street success. Netflix reported its second best quarter for new subscribers last quarter, bringing in more than than 7.5 million fresh streamers — with 5.5 million subscribers joining outside the U.S.
Netflix’s growth has been spurred by a slew of original shows, including “Narcos,” “The Crown,” and “Jessica Jones.” But to keep the hits coming, Netflix has been paying big bucks. Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos has said the company will spend $8 billion on content this year — directly in line with competitors like Time Warner, Disney, and Fox when it comes to non-sports programming.
For his part, Disney CEO Bob Iger already has a plan in place to take on the streaming heavyweight. Disney is pulling its movies from Netflix next year, and is preparing to launch its own streaming service.