Meghan Markle‘s lifestyle business As Ever has parted ways with Netflix, raising the prospect another chapter in her life that risks being recorded by the history books as distinctly unsuccessful.
News of the split broke on Friday in U.K. in tabloid The Sun, which quoted a source saying Meghan was still on good terms with the Netflix team but felt its caution was holding her back from going global.
Newsweek has confirmed the reliability of the reporting.
The Duchess of Sussex initially said having Netflix as a partner was “huge,” so it will have been a blow to see the partnership end after just a year, accompanied by a feeling it was no longer propelling her forward.
Needless to say, a spokesperson said in a statement to Newsweek: “As Ever is grateful for Netflix’s partnership through launch and our first year. We have experienced meaningful and rapid growth and As Ever is now ready to stand on its own. We have an exciting year ahead and can’t wait to share more.”
Nick Ede, a U.K. brand and culture expert, told Newsweek the framing—that Netflix was holding back the business—may have been a dangerous move though: “Netflix is a far bigger beast than she is.”
Why It Matters
Prince Harry and Meghan’s Spotify deal collapsed in 2023 as Bill Simmons, an executive at the streamer, called them “f****** grifters,” during a podcast discussion.
Relations with Netflix had gone better though. Chief executive Ted Sarandos publicly defended Meghan during a wave of negative reviews of her With Love, Meghan cooking show last year. Meghan and Prince Harry still have a first look deal to make TV shows for Netflix.
The Risk of Meghan’s Netflix Break Up
Ede said: “Giving Meghan her own show was a huge risk for Netflix, and for them to invest in her business and to help her, so I think for her to say that it was holding her back is actually potentially quite dangerous because Netflix is a far bigger beast than she is, and in the future you wouldn’t want that relationship to have broken down.
“That’s kind of the problem with all of this. It feels like everything that they do never really goes anywhere, especially Meghan. There’s Spotify, then she did the Lemonada Media podcast, then obviously this and then she had The Bench. And it feels like, again, it always comes down to: what does she do? Who is she and why is she doing it?”
One of Meghan’s early forays into the media post-royal exit was her children’s book The Bench, published in June 2021, which caused worldwide headlines. Ultimately, though, she did not pursue a career as a children’s book author.
The couple had a multi-year deal with Spotify but produced one podcast, Meghan’s 12-part series Archetypes, before the relationship broke down.
Meghan launched a second podcast last year called Confessions of a Female Founder through Lemonada media but has put the project on hold for now while she focuses on As Ever.
The split was presented in The Sun as a mutual decision to part ways but what is less clear is the terms of that agreement. Netflix was an equity partner in As Ever, meaning it owned a share of the business.
Newsweek has not been able to establish whether Meghan had to buy that share back off the streaming giant and, if so, whether they gave it up for a profit or loss.
“You own equity, and you own it in perpetuity, basically,” Ede said, “unless there’s some deal that it had done that said that actually, no, we’ll give it back to you.
“But why would it do that after it had made all that effort? It spent all the money, it wants to recoup it. It will have made a loss,” Ede added.
The Potential Reward
The Sun‘s source said Meghan felt “very happy to have full control of the company” and that it was a good time to do so. With Netflix out of the way, she will be free to go global, the source said.
“She’s got a huge global fan base,” Ede said, “so it’d be stupid to restrict her from doing that but it must be an extremely expensive operation.
“That global expansion is going to be huge so you’re kind of scratching your head because you’re thinking actually Netflix with its reach could be the perfect partner.”
And its not just going global: the Netflix partnership was geared toward the streaming giant’s ambition to expand merchandising its shows, whereas Meghan may want to take her business down other paths not related to her Netflix content.
“Someone like Megan probably wanted to go into fashion, especially,” Ede said, “and she may have felt a little bit restricted from it. Obviously, the original idea was that the TV show would be a huge hit and that would be a great way of driving demand and obviously increasing sales of her products.
“I don’t feel that’s really happened. So they both may have sat there and gone, actually, is this working for us? Because I do think that that fashion side of stuff could be the next way she’s going to play the game.”
What People Are Saying
Netflix said in a statement: “Meghan’s passion for elevating everyday moments in beautiful yet simple ways inspired the creation of the As Ever brand, and we are glad to have played a role in bringing that vision to life.
“As it was always intended, Meghan will continue growing the brand and take it into its next chapter independently, and we look forward to celebrating how she continues to bring joy to households around the world.”
Meghan said: “Then Netflix came on, not just as my partner in the show, but as my partner in my business, which was huge.”
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.newsweek.com ’
