Netflix Beats Analysts Thanks to Password Crackdown

Netflix added more than 5 million customers in the third quarter, blowing away Wall Street's expectations on every major financial metric. And this despite a new programming slate that was behind the eight-ball from the start thanks to last year's Hollywood strikes. Sales for the period grew 15%, approaching the startling $10 billion mark. So how did the streaming colossus pull it off? Passwords. Netflix has added more than 60 million customers thanks to its infamous crackdown on password sharing. The introduction of a lower-priced subscription with advertising didn't hurt, either. But all that winning may be short-lived . Most analysts warn the boost from the password strategy is temporary and that the company will soon need another way to grow . Two regions—Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia-Pacific—accounted for almost all of the company's new customers. And in Latin America, Netflix lost customers for the first time since early 2023.

Israel said it has killed the Hamas leader who orchestrated the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in which militants killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds more, triggering what's become a regional war that's claimed at least 44,000 more lives in Gaza and now Lebanon. Yahya Sinwar was one of three people killed on Wednesday in a strike in southern Gaza, the Israeli military said. US Vice President Kamala Harris said his death offered "an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza " and make Israel more secure. "It is time for the day after to begin without Hamas in power," Harris said Thursday after a campaign event with college students in Milwaukee. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised the war will go on. President Joe Biden and other Democrats have wondered aloud in recent weeks whether the Israeli leader has rejected multiple ceasefire proposals in part to affect the coming US election. Israel has denied the allegation. Overnight, the US said it sent B-2 stealth bombers to strike weapons-storage sites linked to Houthi rebels in Yemen, the latest effort to blunt attacks by the Iran-backed group that have disrupted commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The strikes, according to the Pentagon, hit bunkers containing missiles and other munitions "used to target military and civilian vessels throughout the region."