Netflix should be on top of the world. The streamer has far more subscribers than rivals Amazon Prime, Disney+ and HBO Max. But revenue and viewership growth have slowed, the streaming service is cutting staff, and no hits like “Stranger Things” or “Squid Game” are on the horizon.

What did the commenters say?
Netflix investors have been “increasingly worried” since the company’s failed bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, said The Wall Street Journal. While the service has the lowest cancellation rate among major streamers, Netflix has recently “struggled” with subscribers “spending less time watching programming on the platform.” That’s a critical marker. Strong viewership tells executives “customers are satisfied and less likely to cancel their subscriptions.” Plus, company stock has fallen 40% over the last year.

The problem is “keeping viewers hooked,” said The New York Times. Shows like “Beef” and “The Night Agent” are shedding audience in their latest seasons. Viewers are instead “drifting toward TikTok and YouTube for the attention Netflix used to own,” said Investing.com’s Jesse Cohen in an analysis, per the Times. While Netflix accounts for just under 8% of all U.S. viewing time, YouTube comes in at 14%.

The service has also suffered a “brain drain” affecting its hit-making ability, said Drew Taylor at The Wrap. The Duffer Brothers, who created “Stranger Things,” have left for Paramount, and filmmakers like Noah Baumbach and David Fincher are also departing. So the key to any revival will be to “reestablish those relationships.”

What next?
Earlier this month, Netflix announced layoffs of 1,000 employees, as well as the departure of several top executives, said Variety. “I know that we could do better,” said co-CEO Ted Sarandos on an earnings call, per the outlet.

Peter Rice, Netflix’s newly installed chief content officer, “understands talent relations” and will help make the streamer a place where Hollywood creators “love to do” their “best work,” said Sarandos. So can wooing hitmakers help Netflix find its way back to dominance? “Stranger Things” have happened.

Although SpaceX and Tesla may be publicly inseparable from the outsize personality of their CEO, Elon Musk, legally and technically they are separate businesses. But a change might be imminent, as he’s considering a merger of his two kingdoms. The move could consolidate his power and buttress his megariches.

‘Elon Inc.’
Musk announced last week that the two companies have formed committees to explore a deal to create a conglomerate with dealings in rockets, cars and artificial intelligence, said Axios. “I think it would be a good idea," he said on an earnings call with reporters, per the outlet. (SpaceX and Tesla are already collaborating on AI chip production.) The new enterprise would be “massive,” said Axios. The companies currently have a combined capitalization of more than $3.5 trillion.

The SpaceX-Tesla consolidation would be the “world’s largest ever merger,” said the Financial Times. It would be a “new type of 21st-century conglomerate” centered around AI and a “leading position in industries ranging from space exploration to robotics.” There has “never been a company like it of any scale,” said analyst Gene Munster to FT.

This would “create a de facto Elon Inc.,” said The New York Times. The merger has also “raised concerns” from policymakers and critics who believe the world’s richest man has “already amassed too much power.” It would give Musk official “power over an increasing slice of the world’s economy,” said Jill Fisch, a business law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, to Marketplace.

The Trump factor
The proposal comes at a moment when Musk has “regained access to the White House” after a falling-out with President Donald Trump, said Bloomberg. The advantage is not “guaranteed to last,” though. As such, a push is on to officially announce a deal in the first half of 2027 “so that it closes during this administration” before a “potentially less-accommodating political and financial environment takes hold.”

A would-be power shift may explain Musk’s gargantuan spending on the 2026 midterm election. His giving to GOP candidates has blown “past the $400 million mark as of mid-October,” said CNN.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado receives a hero’s welcome in Caracas after nearly a year in exile. The Nobel Peace Prize winner returns amid growing fears about democracy under interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who replaced Nicolás Maduro after he was ousted in January. 
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As one of the most popular and top-selling genres, romance has long transported readers into captivating love stories. These four swoon-worthy novels are perfect for anyone seeking an amorous read.

‘Pride and Prejudice’ (1813)
Scholars celebrate Jane Austen’s “pioneering use of free indirect discourse,” but you don’t need to be an expert to appreciate that she “helped invent the romantic comedy as we know it,” said Time. A “drolly perceptive chronicle” of Elizabeth Bennet’s “bumpy courtship” with Fitzwilliam Darcy, Austen’s “second and most influential novel” is the “ultimate slow burn.” ($25, Penguin Random House)

‘Outlander’ (1991)
After World War II, British combat nurse Claire and her husband embark on a second honeymoon to reconnect. Instead, she somehow “winds up in 1743 Scottish highlands” and falls in love with warrior Jamie — a “very different and very passionate relationship,” said Forbes. The first in a beloved series, this novel by Diana Gabaldon is best for fans of “time travel, historical fiction and very long novels.” ($30, Penguin Random House)

‘The Notebook’ (1996)
The bond between Noah and Allie, the star-crossed lovers at the center of the novel by Nicholas Sparks and the classic 2004 film, has ensnared romantics for decades. Their love feels “both idealized and grounded,” spanning “years, obstacles and ultimately memory loss.” The result is “more powerful than a typical love story,” said Business Insider. ($25, Hachette Book Group)

‘Before I Let Go’ (2022)
Yasmen and her ex-husband, Josiah, try their best to coparent and run a business together, but they keep being pulled back into each other’s arms. Kennedy Ryan’s “emotion-driven books” are “anything but fluff,” tackling deeper issues such as “mental health and neurodivergence, social injustices, and climate change,” said Marie Claire. ($40, Hachette Book Group)