It might be time to log out of your friends’ Disney+ streaming account, as Disney+ and Hulu are following in Netflix’s password crackdown footsteps. Starting 14 March, both Disney+ and Hulu — which is partially owned by Disney — will “ add limitations ” to stop users from sharing login information with people outside of their household. These limitations will be rolling out in the US and UK first before making their way over to the Middle East.

What is a household?Hulu and Disney+’s US subscriber agreements, which were updated on 25 January to include this change, define a household as a collection of devices located at a single address, used by people who consider it their primary personal residence.

Before you try: You can’t outsmart it. The streaming services might resort to shady methods to “analyze” your account use. While the companies chose not to comment on how they plan to do that, we expect them to follow suit with Netflix and collect your IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity to determine whether you’re breaking their terms of service, although Netflix denied collecting GPS data from devices.

The password-sharing issue can make a big difference for streaming giants: Netflix spearheaded the move to crack down on password sharing back in May 2023 due to high operation costs that made streaming unprofitable. Forcing users to create their own accounts helped Netflix add 8.8 mn subscribers and USD 8.5 bn in revenue. Disney lost some USD 11 bn over the course of three years since launching Disney+ in 2019, according to the New York Times. Disney CEO Bob Iger told shareholders that the company plans to make its streaming service business profitable by the end of 2024, moving first to increase prices.

While Hulu isn’t available in Om El Donia, Disney willlaunch a combined Disney+ and Hulu app, Iger said, once the company completes its ownership of the streaming service.

Tech companies are keeping things lean — and shareholders are happy: Tech giants like Meta and Amazon have been ramping up layoffs to increase efficiency, even as they’re both seeing record revenues, according to CNBC. The moves have helped drive their stocks upwards, signaling to investors that they’re able “to do more with less, an alluring equation for shareholders,” CNBC says.

Investors are reaping the benefits: Meta is introducing dividends for the first time, announcing last week on its 4Q earnings call that it will distribute a quarterly dividend of USD 0.5 per share, after reporting bumper earnings for the quarter. Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft have yet to follow suit — but have been hopping on the downsizing trend along with multiple other companies— Microsoft let go of 1.9k roles just last month, says layoffs.fyi.

Hiring isn’t completely halted — it’s just more intentional. New hires will be “relatively minimal compared to what we would have done historically,” signifying a new movement in the “maturing” tech industry, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on the call. They’re still looking for talent, especially for AI, but will keep it minimal with heightened consideration of the cost / benefit — hiring means cutting back somewhere else.

A new era for the tech industry: Companies are going against the traditional route of reinvesting in growth and hiring. Capital preservation is now the new thing, Daniel Flax, an analyst at Neuberger Berman described it as “continu[ing] to invest for the future and play offense while at the same time manage expenses in this tough environment.” Projections of slowed growth late this year suggest even more oncoming capital allocation changes. Having a smaller headcount also means more control, allowing for growth while staying lean and limber.

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