Netflix’s shares fell as much as 25% on Friday (21 January). This news is confirmed by Bloomberg, shortly after the company reported its slowest year of growth since 2015. It marks Netflix’s worst day and week since July 2012. Netflix shares have now dropped 43% over the last few months, wiping out almost $130 billion in market value.

The low subscriber growth might be the first reason. Throughout the period October-December last year, Netflix managed to gain 8.3 million worldwide subscribers. This is about 200,000 fewer than the management had forecast. 

Netflix co-Chief Executive Reed Hastings said at an investor conference call that he was frustrated by the slower growth in subscriptions. “We are staying calm and trying to figure it out,” he said, adding that, “It could well be COVID-19 effects. It could be we are pushing on a smaller market than we thought. But I’m not sure why.”

When releasing its fourth-quarter results, Netflix also projected an increase of 2.5 million subscribers during the first three months of this year. According to Time, this number is below analysts’ expectations of 4 million. 

The second reason is the growing competition that the company is facing. “While this added competition may be affecting our marginal growth some, we continue to grow in every country and region in which these new streaming alternatives have launched,” the company said in its shareholder letter on Thursday (20 January).

The question of competition is even more crucial as Netflix just increased its prices in the US and Canada, raising its standard plan from $13.99 to $15.49 per month. 

Other streaming services also suffered. Roku fell 9%, while Disney and ViacomCBS slipped 7% and Discovery dropped almost 5%.