Can Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) Habits Predict Kids’ Intelligence And Future?

Somewhere in the world, someone is looking at your kid’s Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) viewing habits and making predictions about their intelligence and future, Michael Fertik told Betty Liu in a discussion on Bloomberg’s In the Loop.

The comment from the Reputation.com founder about Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) came as he was discussing his book, “The Reputation Economy: How to Optimize Your Digital Footprint in a World Where Your Reputation Is Your Most Valuable Asset,” and how people cannot help that their digital footprint is being gathered, analyzed and scored.

“Here’s a scary version that I say to parents that they don’t like. They don’t like it but it’s true. There are people today who are studying things like the Netflix viewing habits of your kids and making predictions about how smart they are and how scholastically well they will achieve and how well they will perform and where they are going to go to college,” Fertik said.

According to the Reputation.com founder, he is not worried about Big Brother and the U.S. government but about all the companies around the world that are sifting data. People, he said, always have a “reputation” based on how they use technology in their lives be it through the Internet with content choices on Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) or shopping choices on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) or the use of other machines such as televisions and smartphones.

Meanwhile, Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has just reported its performance for the fourth quarter of 2014. The company reported a 26% increase year-over-year in revenue which was $1.48 billion for 4Q2014. Its net income was reported at $83.4 million. The firm also ended 2014 with 57.4 million subscribers, up by 1.9 million in the U.S. and 2.43 million around the world in the fourth quarter.

Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP owned about 1.41 million Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) shares by the end of the third quarter of 2014, a 20% decrease in the firm’s stake in the entertainment content distributor compared to its stake in the preceding quarter.