Netflix shares fall as streaming giant adds fewer then expected subscribers

The stock fell to as low as $342 in extended trading, a decline that erased about $25 billion in market value

Netflix Inc. stunned Wall Street by attracting fewer subscribers than expected last quarter, renewing concerns that the video-streaming service has become an investment bubble.

The shares plunged as much as 15 per cent after Netflix added 5.2 million users in the period, about a million fewer than it predicted. Its outlook for the current quarter also reflected a deceleration: The world’s largest paid online TV network expects to add 5 million customers, a slower pace than a year earlier.

Shareholders and analysts now have the job of weighing whether the slowdown is a blip or a longer-term problem. Netflix’s stock