The Rundown - Netflix Faces Slower Growth, United Airlines Expects Record Profits

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

Market update for January 21, 2026Follow us on Instagram (@TheRundownDaily) for bonus content and instant reactions.In today’s episode:Stocks slide after Trump’s Greenland tariffs rattles markets and sends investors into safe havensNetflix shares fall after earnings as the company signals slower growth and ramps up spending ahead of its Warner dealUnited Airlines posts strong earnings and says it could deliver record profits in 2026 as travel demand stays hotGameStop jumps after CEO Ryan Cohen buys more stockKraft Heinz drops on a potential Berkshire exitFun fact: K-Pop Demon Hunters became Netflix’s most-watched title ever

Public.com presents the rundown. Your daily market update in under 10 minutes. My name is Zaid Admani, and today is Wednesday, January 21st. In today's episode, we'll tell you why some traders are calling this market sell-off the Sell America Trade. We'll also recap earnings from Netflix and United Airlines. Then stick around to the end of the show to find out what the biggest hit on Netflix was in 2025, and the numbers behind this are shableness.

We got a great show for you today. Let's go. Markets got wrecked to start off the week after President Trump threatened Denmark and other European allies with tariffs to force a sale of Greenland to the U.S. The S&P 500 lost 2.1% yesterday. Well, the NASDAQ lost 2.4%. It was the worst date for stocks since October. And by the way, it wasn't just stocks selling off bonds also took a hit.

the U.S. 10-year treasury yield climbed to its highest level since August. Now, the reason the 10-year yield is important is because it directly impacts borrowing costs across the economy for things like mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, and more. So yields going up means that borrowing will become more expensive, and that's why economists and investors like to pay close attention to it. Also, the U.S. dollars slid yesterday as well. You know, markets really don't like uncertainty, and this Greenland situation could lead to a potential trade war with Europe again and maybe even destabilized NATO. So investors are selling U.S.

stocks and moving to hard assets like gold and silver, which both made record highs yesterday and continued to rally today. Some investors are calling this the sell America trade, where global investors dump their U.S. stocks, bonds, and even the dollar because of its administration's unpredictability. But also keep in mind, like every time Trump causes chaos in the markets, it's usually temporary and markets have bounced back pretty quick. We saw this happen. But in April after Liberation Day, it also happened in October after Trump escalated trade tensions with China, but then backed off. So the same thing could happen again here. Now, the other good news for investors is that earnings season is about to kick into gear, which gives investors

something else to focus on outside of all the geopolitical stuff. If corporate earnings come in strong, especially from big tech giants that report next week, investors might move on from the Greenland stuff pretty fast. So we'll see how it all plays out. I mean, either way, we're going to have a lot to talk about over the next couple weeks. So if you're new here, it's a great time to get subscribed for the podcast and tune in every day to stay in the loop. Let's run through some headlines, starting with Netflix. Netflix reported earnings last night, and on the surface, the numbers were pretty decent. Revenues in Q4 were up 18% to $12.1 billion, and net income came in at $2.4 billion,

both slightly ahead of estimates. Subscriber growth also remained solid, with Netflix ending 2025 with over 325, million subscribers worldwide. But the stock is still down this morning because investors are worried about slower growth and increased spending moving forward. Netflix expects revenue growth of 12 to 14 percent in 2026, which is down from the roughly 16 percent growth in 2025. At the same time, Netflix is planning to spend a lot of money, including increasing their content spend by 10 percent from 18 billion in 2025 to 20 billion in 2026. The company says they're using that money to ramp up original programming, live events, gaming, and international production. And then don't forget,

Netflix is in the middle of a $72 billion all-cash acquisition for Warner Brothers, and that number might keep going up depending on if Paramount increases their bid, and Netflix gets in a bidding war. So you have slowing growth and increased spend, and that means that profits could take a hit in the short term. On top of that, Netflix is pausing stock buybacks, which investors also don't love. So that's why Netflix stock is down more than 3% today. Now, what caught my attention from this earnings report was Netflix's ads business. Netflix's ad revenue more than doubled in 2025 to over $1.5 billion and management expects ad revenues to double again in 26. Overall, though, I think the uncertainty around the Warner's acquisition and slowing growth is too much for investors to overcome at this time.

Now, Netflix stock is in a bit of a funk right now. They've lost more than 20% in value since they originally announced the Warner's acquisition in early December. Let's keep it moving and talk about United Airlines. They also reported earnings last night and investors like what they heard. Revenues were up 5% to $15.4 billion and profits were up 6% to $1 billion. Both of these were right in line with expectations. Premium seat revenue was the bright spot jumping 9% in Q4 and 11% for the full year of 2025. Airlines are starting to see higher income travelers spend more money. But what makes United Airlines unique is they also saw basic economy ticket sales increased by 7% as well. So United is seeing demand from all types of travelers, which is different than what

Delta said last week when they saw economy seats decline in 2025. United Airlines expects momentum to continue into 2026. In fact, the company said their first two weeks of January saw record revenues and the airline thinks they will deliver record profits in 26. United Airlines stock is up nearly 3% this morning in reaction to the earnings. You know, I live in Houston, which is a United Hub, so I fly United all the time. And I got to say, man, I've been impressed with them lately. especially their app. I mean, their app is by far the best I've used compared to other airlines.

Let's talk about some stocks making moves today. GameStop shares are rising this morning after CEO Ryan Cohen purchased 500,000 shares according to a 13D filing with the SEC. The purchase was for a little over $10 million at a average price of roughly $21 per share. You know, this comes shortly after the company's board announced a long-term performance award for Cohen. Cohen could receive options to purchase up to

nearly 172 million shares at $20.66 per share if certain milestones are reached. The first hurdle that he would have to hit is a $20 billion market cap that would unlock 10% of the reward. For reference, GameStop's market cap is currently $9.5 billion. Ryan Cohen would receive another 10% for every additional $10 billion in market cap all the way up to $100 billion. I got to say, though, that's pretty ambitious for a struggling video game retailer. I mean, GameStop's peak valuation was less than $25 billion back when it first became a meme stock in 2021. So hitting a $100 billion market cap, I don't think that's going to happen. But Ryan Cohen seems to be confident in the company and its strategy, including being a Bitcoin reserve company.

The company's Bitcoin holdings were valued at around $519 million as of the most recent quarter. Now, shareholders still have to approve this compensation plan for Ryan Cohen. with a vote expected in March or April of 26. But investors are pretty excited. GameStop shares are up about 3% this morning on this news. Now, on the flip side, Kraft Heinz stock is getting crushed after Berkshire Hathaway filed paperwork with the SEC that would allow it to sell its entire 27.5% stake in the company, which is a position worth roughly $7.8 billion.

Now, this doesn't mean that Berkshire is selling all of their stake today, but it does mean that shares are officially on the table for sale, and that's enough to spook investors. Craft-Hine stock is down more than 5% this morning. You know, Berkshire first invested in Heinz back in 2013, and they helped engineer the Kraft-Hine's merger in 2015. But that deal never really lived up to expectations. I mean, last year alone, Berkshire took a $3.8 billion write-down on that investment.

And the stock has struggled. Craft-Hine stock is down nearly 30% over the past five years as legacy food brands struggle with competition, private labels, and changing consumer habits. Kraft Hines is also in the middle of a breakup plan. They're essentially undoing the mega merger from a decade ago. So yeah, Berkshire is probably going to take a rare L on this investment. And the timing is pretty interesting because remember,

Warren Buffett is no longer the CEO of Berkshire. So the new CEO coming in is already making some big moves. Let's wrap the show with the fun fact. Netflix just released its list of most watch movies and shows from the second half of 2025, and K-pop Demon Hunters completely blew everything else out of the water. The animated movie racked up over 480 million views worldwide in just six months, making it the most watched piece of content ever in a half year on Netflix. In fact, K-pop Demon Hunters has more views in the next top five movies from 2025 combined,

which includes Happy Gilmore 2 and Frankenstein. Now, anyone with little kids probably isn't surprised by this. I mean, this movie has been on repeat at my house since it came out back in June. In fact, my daughter still listens to the songs almost every day, which I don't really mind because the music is really good. And honestly, this is a really big deal for Netflix. It's their first big movie IP. Unfortunately, the sequel isn't planned until 2029,

so it's going to be a while. They probably didn't expect this movie to be such a huge hit. I kind of want to do a deep dive on this movie because the story is really interesting on how Netflix bought the rights from Sony. If you had little kids, let me know in the comments if your kids are still watching K-pop Demon Hunters because my daughter still loves it.

Well, all right, guys, that's the rundown for today. I hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. If you did, and you have like five extra seconds, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you listen to your podcast. And if you are listening on Spotify, don't forget the vote in today's Spotify poll. Leave us a comment on Spotify.

All of that engagement really does help us out, and it helps other people find the show. Thank you guys so much for listening, watching, and commenting. Shout out to Mike and Connor for all the work behind the scenes. And we'll see you guys back here tomorrow. Rosen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. Sounds like Ojo time. Let's play.

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