Greedier Than Netflix (for Now)

In, the movie, Wall Street, Michael Douglas (as Gordon Gekko) uttered his most famous line: "The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit."

Wow, that's great screenwriting, and it has some raw truth to it.  The quote also sounds like something one would expect to hear at a Netflix shareholder meeting.

On the topic of greed, many people feel Netflix is getting greedy by taking advantage of their huge market share and hiking fees on many subscribers by up to 60%. Netflix may, in fact, be a greedy company; however, in Netflix's defense, there are actually some greedier entities. Here is a partial list of those that may still be just a little greedier than Netflix.

• professional gamblers
• casino owners
• used car salesmen
• car dealership service advisors
• automotive finance specialists
• credit card companies
• two-year-old children
• drug dealers
• politicians
• bank robbers
• mortgage brokers
• Hollywood executives
• record companies
• pimps
• dirty cops
• third-world dictators

So maybe Netflix is not so bad. If Netflix wants to compete in the big leagues of greed, however, they will need to take things up a notch with at least one more big fee increase to gouge the subscribers. That just might put them over the top. Hmm, do you think Netflix will be able to hold off on that next fee increase until next year, or will they, in the spirit of competition, just go for it?