Is Netflix about to buy Roku?
A new report suggests that Roku may be in negotiations to be acquired by Netflix, following a tough year that has seen its stock drop by about 80% since July last year.
The news comes via Business Insider (opens in new tab) who claims that sources familiar with the subject said that Roku has been discussing a Netflix acquisition in “recent weeks.”
Adding further fuel to the fire are reports that Roku has closed its stock trading window for all employees.
Normally employees would be able to freely sell any of their stock right now, but Roku has halted this ability.
Such actions are normally reserved for when a company is about to release details that could have a big impact on its stock prices so as to avoid insider trading – a practice where employees with private information buy or sell their stock right before an announcement and profit unfairly.
Why would Netflix buy Roku?
The big question we are sure many of you are asking is: why?
An easy first guess could be that Netflix wants to develop its own streaming stick. Roku has a history-making some of the best streaming sticks out there with the likes of the Roku Express (2019) as well as 4K offerings like the Roku Streaming Stick+ or Roku Streaming Stick 4K (2021). As such, it would make a great partner in this field.
But if Netflix has its own streaming stick it would be odd if it then didn’t offer this hardware some kind of exclusivity to its streaming content. Given that its subscriber numbers aren’t where it wants them to be this wouldn’t be a smart idea. Netflix needs to make it as easy as possible to access its content and maximize viewer numbers, not restricting them by forcing us to buy a specific device.
Instead, it seems far more likely that Netflix is after Roku’s ads.
This story is breaking, as we learn more details we’ll update this page with everything we know. You may have to refresh the page to see the latest information.
Audio player loading… A new report suggests that Roku may be in negotiations to be acquired by Netflix, following a tough year that has seen its stock drop by about 80% since July last year. The news comes via Business Insider (opens in new tab) who claims that sources familiar…
