Just a day after Netflix told investors that they would regularly use their various social media accounts to disclose material information, even mentioning CEO Reed Hasting’s Facebook account specifically, Hastings has done just that.
In a Facebook post, Hastings announced that Netflix users have streamed 4 billion hour in the past 3 months. Of course, he would probably argue that this type of tidbit isn’t really material information anyway – but it’s nearly identical to the post that got him in trouble with the SEC last December.
Hastings posted that Netflix users were now streaming 1 billion hours of content per month, and that ruffled the SEC’s feathers. They claimed that it violated Regulation Fair Disclosure, as the bit of info didn’t come in an official filing or press release. Hastings hit back, saying that 1.) it wasn’t really material and 2.) Facebook does count as a network for disclosure.
The SEC eventually cleared Hastings of all wrongdoing in the incident, and updated their rules to allow for social media as a dispersion channel for investor info – so long as the company alerts investors beforehand that they will be using the social media channels.
And on Wednesday, Netflix revealed that they would be doing just that in a regulatory filing.
“The information we post on social media could be deemed to be material information…In light of the SEC’s guidance, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in our company to review the information we post on the U.S. social media,” said Netflix.
It looks like this is the future of social media disclosure. Here’s Netflix CEO Reed Hastings informing his 264,000 followers on Facebook that Netflix users have streamed over 4 billion hours of content in the last three months. It turns out to be only part of a post that references House of Cards and the upcoming Hemlock Grove. Oh, and it’s not even a status update, really. It’s additional comment on a link that he posted.
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