Daily Report: The Netflix-Amazon Connection

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Netflix is taking steps to dominate the world of digital streaming globally. Which other tech company does it most take after?

For technology columnist Farhad Manjoo, the answer is Amazon. “What if Netflix is the Amazon of the entertainment industry — the embodiment of a slow, expensive, high-risk effort to consume the entirety of your business?” Mr. Manjoo writes in the State of the Art column, posing that question to media moguls.

The parallels between Netflix and Amazon are striking, Mr. Manjoo says. Like Amazon, Netflix has the ability to surprise with a bold and no-holds-barred strategy, such as switching on its streaming service in more than 130 countries earlier this year. Netflix — similar to Amazon — is also spending huge sums to cement its business lead and is gathering mounds of data about users and their habits. As the company gains more consumers, more data and more content, that will push Netflix into a virtuous circle of profit and growth — just like you-know-who, Mr. Manjoo writes.

More evidence of Netflix’s Amazon-like qualities is likely to come next week. On Tuesday, Netflix will report its fourth-quarter results.