A new report suggests that Roku could be in talks to be acquired by Netflix, after a rocky year in which its shares have plunged around 80% since July last year.
The news comes from Business Insider (opens in a new tab) which claims that sources familiar with the matter said that Roku had discussed a Netflix acquisition in the "last few weeks."
Adding fuel to the fire, reports indicate that Roku has closed its stock trading window for all employees.
Normally, employees would be able to freely sell any of their shares at this point, but Roku has removed that ability.
Such actions are typically reserved when a company is about to disclose details that could have a material impact on its share price to prevent insider trading, a practice in which employees with inside information buy or sell their shares fair. before an advertisement and make unfair profit. .
Why would Netflix buy Roku?
The big question that I'm sure many of you ask yourselves is: why?
An easy first guess might be that Netflix wants to develop its own streaming device. Roku has made history with some of the best streaming devices like the Roku Express (2019), as well as 4K offerings like the Roku Streaming Stick+ or the Roku Streaming Stick 4K (2021). As such, it would be an excellent partner in this area.
But if Netflix has its own streaming device, it would be strange if it didn't offer this hardware some kind of exclusivity for its streaming content. Since his follower numbers aren't where he wants them to be, that wouldn't be a good idea. Netflix should make it as easy as possible to access its content and maximize the number of viewers, without restricting them by forcing us to buy a specific device.
Instead, it seems much more likely that Netflix is looking for Roku ads.
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