Looks like the pot-smoking cool dude known as @Qwikster on Twitter can breathe a sigh of relief: Netflix won’t be trying to nab his user name, after all.
The company announced Monday that it’s decided not to spin off its DVD-by-mail service, also named Qwikster, into a separate company.
The reversal comes after weeks of mounting public criticism — first when Netflix announced a controversial price hike in July and again last month, when the company’s CEO Reed Hastings said DVD rentals would become the focus of a separate company.
In a blog post Monday morning, Hastings admitted that splitting Netflix in two would “make things more difficult” for customers.
This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster.
While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.
Netflix’s stock was up ten percent before the bell, according to the New York Times’ Brian Stelter.
After Hastings announced the split last month, it was revealed that the company had laid little of the groundwork in preparation for the change. Social media types mocked Netflix for failing to secure a Twitter handle for Qwikster. In fact, @Qwikster was already taken — by a pot-smoking Elmo.
Rumors that @Qwikster, aka Jason Castillo, would sell his handle to Netflix ran rampant in the weeks following the news. But now, with the new company going belly-up before it even got started, Castillo can finally tell people he gets to keep his user name for good.
