Netflix is canning a film financing department, a small unit consisting of four full-time employees and one clerical worker.
The company said the decision was strategic.
"We're a distributor," said Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey. "We're not a studio and we decided to stick with our core business . . . The decision is not material, there wasn't a big announcement, it just trickled out."
We suspect it was probably a cost cutting measure, too. The titles Netflix invested in weren't exactly major blockbusters: "Sherrybaby" made roughly $200,000 at the box office; "No End in Sight" grossed about $1.4 million; and "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days" took in about $1.2 million in U.S. ticket sales.
Netflix is also undoubtedly struggling with high gas prices -- the U.S. Postal Service estimates it will spend an additional $600 million on gas this year, and chances are good that Netflix is suffering similarly.
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