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Netflix stock is on its way to its biggest one-day gain since the video subscription service went public more than a decade ago. The stock had climbed $38.40, or 37 percent, to $141.66 in early afternoon trading Thursday as investors celebrated a fourth-quarter earnings report that Netflix Inc. released late Wednesday. Earlier in the session, the shares hit a new 52-week high of $149.17.

Netflix is moving to protect itself against hostile takeovers, less than a week after activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed a stake of nearly 10 percent in the online video company. Netflix Inc. said Monday that it has adopted a shareholder rights plan, also known as a poison pill. Such a plan is designed to make it difficult or even impossible for someone to take over the company without an agreement from the board. When the provision is triggered, additional shares flood the market and make it prohibitively expensive for a takeover.

The loss of its contract with Starz for movies may hurt Netflix less than originally thought, because more than half of its streaming audience are watching TV series.

Netflix says it will stream certain movies from The Weinstein Co., including "The Artist," under an exclusive licensing agreement.

Netflix Inc won back Wall Street's affections on Thursday after adding more U.S. subscribers than expected in the fourth quarter, a rebound that prompted analyst upgrades and the company's biggest one-day stock jump in two years. The Los Gatos, California-based company's shares soared 23.5 percent to $117.40 in afternoon trading. Shares had dropped to a year's low of $62.37 on November 30.

Verizon may not have had much bargaining power with its currently minimal streaming subscriber base, but a partnership will help Verizon leverage Redbox's established relationship with content providers to get more favorable deals. This could lead to less of an impact on gross margins than had it decided to go alone.

Netflix Inc reported an increase in third-quarter revenue that beat analyst expectations but said DVD subscriptions would sharply decline in the fourth quarter, sending its shares down sharply.

The company’s decision to split into two businesses has customers complaining that it is treating them badly.

Netflix Inc. lowered its expectations for U.S. subscribers for the third quarter by 4 percent on Thursday, just weeks after separating its DVD and streaming services, which increased...

If you're a seasoned Netflix instant streaming user, it may surprise you to know that the company has always had an official policy of limiting the number of simultaneous streams you're using. Now, Netflix has made that policy more concrete by producing an error message if you attempt to access your streaming account when it is already in use.