The daily business briefing: July 17, 2018

1. Netflix stock drops as subscriber growth misses estimates

Netflix shares plunged by about 14 percent in after-hours trading on Monday after the video streaming service reported disappointing quarterly results. Netflix added 5.2 million streaming customers in the second quarter, falling significantly short of the company's April estimate of 6.2 million. Netflix also reported revenue of $3.91 billion, up from $2.79 billion a year earlier but just below the FactSet consensus projection of $3.94 billion. The company reported profits of 85 cents per share, beating the FactSet consensus of 79 cents. Netflix said in a letter to shareholders that the quarter was "strong but not stellar."

MarketWatch Reuters

2. Amazon's Prime Day marred by glitches but Bezos' wealth soars

Amazon suffered computer glitches on Monday at the start of its 36-hour Prime Day summer sale, its biggest promotional event of the year. Shoppers reported problems on desktop PCs and the online retail giant's mobile app. Amazon acknowledged on Twitter that some customers were reporting problems, and said it was working to fix them. Still, the company tweeted, "Many are shopping successfully — in the first hour of Prime Day in the U.S., customers have ordered more items compared to the first hour last year." Amazon's stock hit a record during the session — lifting founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' net worth to a record $150 billion, making him the richest person in modern history. The shares fell slightly after the glitches were reported.

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CNBC

3. CVS fires 2 employees who called police on black customer

CVS Health on Monday fired two employees at a Chicago-area store days after one of them, a white man, called police after a customer, a black woman, tried to use a coupon the workers believed to be fake. The customer, Camilla Hudson, posted a video of the Friday night incident on Facebook, saying the product manufacturer had mailed her the coupon. Her picture of it showed it had a December 2018 expiration date and was good for up to $17.99 toward a personal medical item. The two CVS managers questioned the coupon's authenticity, and one of them, she said, "ran to the back of the store and slammed a door in my face." The other manager told her to leave because he had called the police. The drugstore company has apologized to her.

The New York Times

4. 10th member of May's government quits over Brexit divisions

A 10th British lawmaker quit on Monday, cutting Prime Minister Theresa May's majority to just three and increasing doubts over her ability to push through her Brexit plan. Despite the infighting in her Conservative Party over charges that she is giving too much control to the European Union, May's most recent amendments to key customs legislation narrowly passed through the House of Commons late Monday. The divisions, however, threaten to make it difficult for May to win Parliament's approval for the final terms of the U.K.'s exit from the EU. After a series of departures from May's Cabinet by ministers favoring a hard Brexit, the member of her government who quit Monday favored a soft Brexit and maintaining close ties between Britain and the trading bloc.

Bloomberg

5. Musk feud with rescue diver drags down Tesla stock

Tesla shares fell by 3.5 percent on Monday after the electric car maker's founder and CEO, Elon Musk, posted a derogatory remark on Twitter about one of the British cave divers involved in the rescue of 12 Thai children from a flooded cave last week. After rescuers rejected Musk's offer of a mini-submarine, the diver, Vernon Unsworth, reportedly said Musk could "stick his submarine where it hurts" because it had "absolutely no chance of working." Musk replied via Twitter on Sunday that the sub could do the job, referring to Unsworth as a "pedo," although he offered no evidence that Unsworth was a pedophile. Unsworth said he was considering legal action. Analysts said the spat added to concerns that Musk's public statements are a distraction for his businesses.

Reuters