Squid Game boosts Netflix subscriber numbers

Squid Game has become a global hit for Netflix. Photo / Getty Images

Netflix posted sharply higher third-quarter earnings Tuesday thanks to a stronger slate of titles, including "Squid Game," the dystopian survival drama from South Korea that the company says became its biggest-ever TV show.

The company said its subscriber base grew 9 per cent from a year earlier, to 213.6 million as it added a net 4.4m customers over the quarter - 3.5m more than it forecast.

Netflix earned US$1.45 billion, or US$3.19 per share, in the latest quarter. That's up from US$789.9 million or US$1.79 per share, a year earlier.

Revenue grew 16 per cent to US$7.48 billion from US$6.44 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of US$2.56 per share on revenue of US$7.48 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

Shares of the Los Gatos, California-based company climbed US$4.07 after-hours to US$639.

The company made no mention in its earnings press release of the fallout surrounding a recent Dave Chapelle special, which premiered earlier this month after the third quarter ended.

Netflix said Friday that it had fired an employee for disclosing confidential financial information about what it paid for the Chappelle's comedy special "The Closer," which employees and advocacy groups condemned as being transphobic and harmful to transgender people.

The employee, who wasn't named, shared "confidential, commercially sensitive information outside the company," a Netflix statement said.

The media watchdog group GLAAD said that "anti-LGBTQ content" violates Netflix's policy to reject programs that incite hate or violence.

However, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told managers in an internal memo that the show doesn't cross "the line on hate" and will remain on the streaming service.

Transgender employees and their allies planning to stage a walkout Wednesday in protest.