And to think this all got started over a $40 late fee.

Netflix  (NFLIX) – Get Free Report entered this world on Aug. 29, 1997 with the idea of renting DVDs through the mail. 

The company, which go on to become a streaming entertainment giant, reportedly came into being when co-founder Reed Hastings got whacked for 40 bucks at a Blockbuster store for being late to return a copy of the Tom Hanks astronaut epic “Apollo 13.”

Now Blockbuster has been busted down to rubble, while Netflix has taken one giant leap for the stars.

Password crackdown

There has been turbulence in the Los Gatos, Calif.-based company’s journey to becoming an entertainment powerhouse that has nearly 248 million paid subscribers worldwide — roughly the population of Pakistan — and produced such programs as “Stranger Things”, “The Crown” and “Orange is the New Black.”

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For example, there was the company’s crackdown on password sharing, which includes a $7.99 surcharge for away-from-home users, which upset many customers, and a price hike for the basic and premium subscription plans.

However, the password crackdown and an advertising-supported tier, which goes for $6.99 per month in the U.S. and is 55% cheaper than the standard plan, helped Netflix add almost 8 million subscribers in the third quarter, beating Wall Street’s estimates. 

Netflix, along all the other media companies, had to contend with the writer’s strike, which lasted 148 days before ending on Sept. 27 and which some members of the Writers Guild of America called the “Netflix strike” due to the way streaming has upended the entertainment industry.

During the company’s Oct. 18 earnings call, co-CEO Ted Sarandos told analysts that “you should know we are incredibly and totally committed to ending this strike.”

“The industry, our communities, and the economy are all hurting,” he said, according to a transcript of the call. “So, we need to get a deal done that respects all sides as soon as we possibly can. In terms of the impact, you know, these are the times that I’m glad we have such a rich and deep and broad programing selection.”

And Netflix wants to hire a financial analyst whose job will be to estimate the cost of residual payments under the studios’ new agreements for streaming productions with Hollywood unions, Variety reported on Jan. 16.

Netflix said in the job listing that analyst for residuals will be “a key member in our Contingent Compensation & Reporting Department” whose main responsibilities will be “interpreting and analyzing residual impact in accordance with various guilds, unions and production service agreements and execute accordingly.”

And let’s not forget that Netflix is teaming up with French grocery chain Carrefour to offer low-cost subscriptions.

The company is offering customers in the French cities Rouen and Bordeaux no-commitment subscriptions to Netflix’s standard 5.99 euros per month subscription — with ads — along with 10% off on Carrefour brand products.

Analysts see bright future

Two Wall Street analysts are impressed with Netflix’s current state of affairs and they both recently boosted their price targets for the company’s shares.

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Bank of America raised the firm’s price target on Netflix to $585 from $525, while keeping its buy rating.

The firm said that changes made over the last 18 months have led several media companies to reevaluate their streaming aspirations and have been a tactic acknowledgement that not all media companies will be able to achieve Netflix’s global reach and scale and streaming. 

BoA said that “it is becoming increasingly clear that Netflix has won the streaming wars.”

For Netflix, the firm said, the availability to purchase third party content will likely drive additional efficiencies with its content span going forward.

Meanwhile KeyBank analyst Justin Patterson raised the firm’s price target on Netflix to $545 from $525 while keeping an overweight rating on the shares. 

Patterson said that he believes Netflix’s ad-supported MAU — or Monthly Active Users — milestone reinforces that member growth remains healthy and revenue growth should be held in the lower teens over the medium term as Netflix benefits from pricing and ads monetization.

“We believe Netflix is poised for more balanced growth between subscribers and monetization over the medium term,” he wrote. “As efforts like paid sharing and the ad-supported tier ramp, we believe Netflix can sustain a (low double-digit percent) revenue growth profile and 25%+ annual EPS growth.”

MAUs are a key performance indicator used by social networking and other companies to count the number of unique users who have visited a site within the past month.

Netflix is scheduled to report earnings on Jan. 24.