Netflix lost subscribers for the first time in 10 years at the start of the year and said it expects to lose even more in the spring, sending its share price crashing again on Tuesday. The streaming giant’s share price initially fell close to 20% on news that ​​it had lost 200,000 subscribers globally during the first quarter. Wall Street had been expecting the company to add 2.5 million subscribers. Netflix expects to lose 2 million global subscribers in the current quarter. The company blamed the drop on a number of factors, including its huge size, increased competition, the economy, the war in Ukraine, slowing rollout of broadband, and the large number of people who share their Netflix accounts with non-paying households. It also said the decision to close up shop in Russia cost the company 700,000 new additions. Netflix said in a note to investors: “Streaming is winning over linear, as we predicted, and Netflix titles are very popular globally. However, our relatively high household penetration – when including the large number of households sharing accounts – combined with competition, is creating revenue growth headwinds.” The company recently announced a crackdown in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru on people sharing their Netflix accounts with other households. It is expected to expand the scheme. According to its latest financial report, on top of its 222 million paying households, Netflix is being shared with over 100 million additional households, an issue that makes it “harder to grow membership in many markets” and a problem that was obscured by the company’s growth during the pandemic. “Our plan is to reaccelerate our viewing and revenue growth by continuing to improve all aspects of Netflix – in particular, the quality of our programming and recommendations, which is what our members value most,” Netflix said. The decline brought Netflix’s paid global subscriber base to 221.6 million, down from 221.8 million in the prior quarter. The company made $1.6bn in profit over the quarter on $7.8m in sales. This is Netflix’s second consecutive set of disappointing results. In January, when the company announced subscriber growth was slowing, investors wiped almost $45bn (£33bn) from its value.