Culture Wars/Current Controversies

Bad times for big cities

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April 21, 2024 • 3 min read
with Matt Turner
Welcome back to our Sunday edition, a roundup of some of our top stories. Fed up with the cost of life in the US? An increasing number of Americans are turning to “geoarbitrage.”
On the agenda:
But first: Netflix added millions of subscribers. Wall Street balked.

 
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Aslan Alphan/Getty, Tyler Le/BI
Dispatch
Netflix’s Wall Street worry
Netflix announced last week that it had added 9.33 million subscribers in the first three months of the year, far surpassing Wall Street expectations.

 

It now has almost 270 million subscribers, which is comparable to the populations of Russia and Mexico combined.

 

However, those kinds of comparisons will be harder to make in the future. Netflix announced starting next year it will stop releasing subscriber numbers and instead only announce milestones as it passes them.

 

Wall Street did not react well to the news, sending the stock lower.

 

Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown has been a great success. That’s good news for other streaming platforms like Disney that are looking to launch their own crackdown. But the boost will likely fade over time, and some on Wall Street worry the new level of secrecy on subscriber numbers is a sign that growth is decelerating.

 

Plus, Netflix’s stock had increased 50% in the six months before earnings. It’s possible some investors saw an opportunity to book some of their profits.

 

What’s not in question? Netflix’s supremacy in streaming.

 
 
Rebecca Zisser/BI
Reddit overruns Google Search
If you’ve noticed more Reddit posts popping up in your Google Search results, you’re not alone. Posts from sites like Reddit and Quora are overrunning the search engine.

 

In part, Google’s shift to promoting more human, helpful sites has helped bring on a surge in Reddit traffic. And already, spammers are using the new trend to their benefit.

 

How Reddit took over Google.

 

Also read:

 
 
Rebecca Zisser/BI
Bad times for big cities
Across the country, the rise of remote work has led to a decline in commercial real-estate prices and falling property-tax revenue. Cities from San Francisco to Boston are weighing whether to slash budgets.

 

At the root of these cities’ woes is the struggle to figure out what the new normal budget is and how to deliver the services and investments citizens depend on without breaking the bank.

 

Things could soon get even worse.

 
 
Cofrini/AFP via Getty Images; iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI
Leaving McKinsey
When this employee started at McKinsey in 2021, they knew they were there “for a bad time, not a long time.”

 

The employee said they worked from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., and received no mentorship or guidance. They ultimately took a mental health break after a year, and left soon thereafter.

 

What they learned from their time at McKinsey.

 
 
AP
Microsoft’s big plans for the AI boom
A leaked presentation revealed that Microsoft significantly expanded its data-center capacity recently, and plans to ramp up growth to astounding levels going forward.

 

In the first half of Microsoft’s 2025 fiscal year, the company aims to “achieve 3x growth” in new data-center capacity.

 

Read more from the leaked presentation.

 

Also read:

 
 
 

This week’s quote

“Only the very wealthy are going to have any dignity in their old age.” 
— Pam, a 57-year-old worker, on the looming retirement crisis.

 
 
 

More of this week’s top reads

 
 
The Insider Today team

Matt Turner, deputy editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York City. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.

 

Get in touch. Email us at insidertoday@insider.com

 

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Categories: Culture Wars/Current Controversies

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