Page 17 - ARUBA BANK

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 23 January 2020

Clouds drift over the European Central Bank, right, in Frankfurt,
Germany, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020.
Associated Press
Central banks

join to study possible

digital currencies This Oct. 8, 2019, file photo shows the Netflix app on an iPhone in New York. Associated Press

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) the issue for several years Netflix holds its own in the
— Major central banks and has commissioned a
have joined together to ex- pilot project as the use of
plore whether they should cash declines in that coun- streaming wars - for now
issue digital currencies as try. No decision has been
the use of cash declines made. Existing cryptocur-
and more people turn to rencies such as bitcoin are SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — world of video streaming. which makes it easier for
electronic forms of paying. not suited for paying for Netflix is holding its ground The fourth quarter was an them to create hits when
The study group is made things because they can in the streaming wars, pass- important milestone for compared to newcomers
up of the European Central fluctuate sharply in value. ing its first big test since Ap- Netflix, as it was marked its to the market," EMarketer
Bank, the Bank of Japan, Facebook has backed the ple and Disney launched first head-to-head compe- analyst Eric Haggstrom
the Bank of Canada, the Libra project for a so-called rival services. tition with Apple's $5-per- said.
Bank of England, the Swed- stablecoin, a digital curren- The company added 8.8 month streaming service Netflix's most popular plan
ish Riksbank and the Swiss cy linked to existing curren- million worldwide subscrib- and Disney's instantly pop- costs $13 a month, far more
National Bank. They said in cies. Several major partners ers during its fourth quarter, ular $7-a-month option. than competitors from Dis-
a statement Tuesday that such as Visa, Mastercard, surpassing expectations at Still, it's unlikely to be a ney, Apple and Quibi. But
they will assess the poten- PayPal and eBay have left a time when it faces heat- smooth road for Netflix. its price is comparable to
tial case for digital curren- the association set up to ed competition. NBC, HBO and startup HBO Now, and it boasts
cies in their home jurisdic- oversee Libra as it faces Netflix had said it expected Quibi are all planning to one of the largest libraries
tions. The Swedish central pushback from regulatory to add 7.6 million subscrib- launch new streaming ser- of TV shows and movies,
bank has already studied authorities. q ers, and analysts thought vices soon. not to mention regularly
the service would fare Two big questions loom: updated original shows.
even better. The increase How much are consumers Hastings reiterated that
U.S. official: China pales slightly next to the willing to pay for each vid- Netflix isn't interested in in-
8.9 million subscribers the eo streaming option? And troducing ads. Noting that
steals 'massive amounts' service added in the fourth how many will they pay for the digital advertising mar-
quarter of 2018.
before reaching subscrip-
ket is dominated by com-
of data in West The stock dropped about tion fatigue? panies such as Google,
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings Amazon and Facebook,
2.5% immediately in after-
hours trading, likely due to acknowledged the in- he said, "there's not easy
PARIS (AP) — China is steal- that to gain access to the a cautious forecast for the creased competition in a money there."
ing "massive amounts" of corporate databases of first quarter. But shares re- call following earnings, but It's also less controversial
data from Western com- major, large companies," bounded and later traded said he believes the ser- to avoid digital advertising
panies and Iran has stolen he told reporters. up more than 2%. vices are mostly capturing and the scrutiny around
data from some 200 uni- The stolen data is "in some The company — a pioneer new viewers who are tran- companies making cus-
versities, the top U.S. cy- cases" given to private in producing streaming sitioning from traditional TV tomers' personal informa-
bersecurity diplomat said industry within China "to media and binge-worthy watching. tion that comes with it, he
Wednesday . compete against" the shows — now boasts more "It takes away a little bit said.
Robert Strayer, deputy as- companies they stole from, than 167 million subscribers from us," he said of the Dis- In its quarterly letter to
sistant secretary of state Strayer said. worldwide, bolstered by a ney Plus launch. "But again, shareholders, Netflix in-
for cyber and international "So that happens on a reg- list of well-received movies most of the growth in the cluded a chart of Google
communications, said in ular basis," he added. and shows released late future is coming out of lin- search trends that showed
Paris that the data theft Strayer was in Paris along last year. That includes the ear TV." people searching more
"happens on a regular ba- with a Justice Department fantasy show "The Witcher" Netflix has one major ad- often for "The Witcher"
sis." official to convince France and Oscar nominees "The vantage over competitors: than for competing shows
Over the last few years, the not to use Huawei technol- Irishman" and "Marriage it has been collecting data including "The Mandalo-
Chinese "compromised the ogy from China, at least in Story." on the shows viewers crave rian," "The Morning Show"
largest of the global ser- the sensitive core of their The boost helps reaffirm for years. and "Jack Ryan," from Dis-
vice providers and cloud networks, due to security Netflix's strong standing in "Netflix's scale allows it to ney, Apple and Amazon,
providers ... and they use risks.q the increasingly crowded reach mass audiences, respectively.q