After a successful launch of streaming video services in Canada (albeit not without its hiccups), Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) is setting its sights on distant shores. If there were any doubts about this fact, they should be dispelled by a couple of recent job postings.
The video rental innovator is looking for training supervisors and quality assurance analysts in its customer support center in Oregon. Nothing new there, but this time you need to be fluent in English plus one of the following languages: "Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazilian and European), and Spanish (Latin American and European)."
I suppose American English is close enough for a couple of other rumored expansion districts such as Britain and Australia (though cockney should qualify as a foreign language). The range of languages listed above paints crosshairs across large chunks of Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
Overseas expansion is vital to Netflix's future success, and it all starts with the people. The technology is already there and content licenses will have to happen along the way, but nobody will sign up for a service that doesn't work and is unsupported. The job postings don't specify a hiring or deployment time frame, though both trainers and analysts need a valid passport and the ability to travel a lot.
Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) has made some European acquisitions and will probably show up for a fight in other territories as well. Other potential rivals following Netflix abroad might include Apple and Google, though neither has really signaled any moves in that direction. Beyond that, Netflix will go up against whatever local services might have started in each local market.
Add Netflix to your watchlist to follow the company on its international travels.
