Netflix shares slid this week on the back of weak guidance, despite first-quarter earnings beating market expectations.
Shares in the streaming giant fell nearly 9% to about US$98 ($166) during Thursday’s extended trading.
Netflix reported first-quarter revenue grew 16% year-on-year to US$12.25 billion, which beat analyst expectations of US$12.18b. Reported net income of US$5.28b nearly doubled from US$2.89b during the previous corresponding period. Earnings per share of US$1.23 came in above expectations of 76c a share, and were driven by a US$2.8b termination fee from a discarded plan to merge with Warner Bros Discovery. Without the fee, Netflix would have earned 58 cents per share.
However, the result was dampened by future expectations.
Netflix maintained its previous annual revenue guidance range of between US$50.7b and US$51.7b. It expected second-quarter revenue to increase 13% and reiterated warnings that content spending would be weighted in the first half of the year due to the timing of title launches. Some costs related to the terminated merger plan had also been moved forward to this year from 2027.
Netflix co-founder and chair Reed Hastings also reported he would step down in June to focus on philanthropy and other pursuits. Hastings co-founded the company in 1997 and served as CEO until 2023.
Allbirds to NewBird
In other news, sustainable shoe brand Allbirds reported plans to pivot from retail into artificial intelligence compute infrastructure.
It announced it had secured a US$50m convertible financing facility from an institutional investor which would enable it to pivot its business. The long-term vision was to "become a fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-native cloud solutions provider", the company added. It expected to change its name to "NewBird AI" as a result.
Shares in the Nasdaq-listed company, which had been trading flat around US$2.50, rose more than 760% on the news. However, it has since dipped to just under US$11 a share.
Earlier this month, Allbirds reported its assets would be taken over by American Exchange Group in a deal worth US$39 million. The company cancelled its scheduled earnings announcement due to take place on April 1. Instead, a proxy statement about the sale was due to be filed by this Friday.
An Allbirds store in Chicago.
Spirit Airlines
Meanwhile, rising fuel costs have added more pain to Spirit Airlines’ woes.
US news outlets have reported the low-cost airline could face liquidation within the next week. Spirit, which hoped to emerge from bankruptcy this year, was already preparing to cut jobs. However, the rise in fuel costs has added more pressure to all airlines that operate on thin profit margins.
Analysts at JPMorgan estimated that if fuel remains around US$4.60 per gallon this year, Spirit could be hit with roughly US$360 million in additional expenses – more than the US$337 million in cash it had at the end of 2025.
The company was founded in 1983 and flies to about 75 destinations around the US, the Caribbean and South America. While the business was profitable, the pandemic, coupled with increased costs and an oversupply of domestic US flights, led to challenges for the company.
In a statement, Spirit said it “doesn’t comment on market rumours and speculation”. 
Conflict hurts luxury sales
Meanwhile, luxury brands have started to feel the bite of the war in Iran.
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton reported a 6% decline in reported sales for the first quarter, driven by unfavourable exchange rates.
The company said the conflict shaved at least 1% off its total group sales in the last quarter, due to lower spending in the Middle East. It had also impacted sales in Europe, which were down 3% for the quarter.
LVMH chief financial officer Cécile Cabanis said the region accounted for 6% of group sales, and represented slightly more of sales within the fashion and leather goods division. Cabanis said the situation in the Middle East had not markedly improved since the heavy disruption seen in shopping hubs at the start of the war. "What we see today is still that demand is very much down."
She added that mall traffic had initially dropped by between 30% and 70%, with 50% labelled as an average.
Other luxury brands have also felt the chill from exposure to the Middle East.
Shares in Hermès fell more than 8% after the retailer missed first-quarter earnings expectations and reported the conflict had impacted sales. “Wholesale activity was significantly affected by lower sales to concession stores, particularly in the Middle East and in airports,” it reported.
Additionally, luxury conglomerate Kering reported retail revenue in the Middle East declined by 11% in the first quarter, after reporting growth over the first two months of the year.
Kering, which owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga, has 79 stores in the region, with the Middle East representing about 5% of its retail revenue. 
