Netflix (NFLX) has taken an incredible beating recently -- see the chart here -- with shares plunging nearly 45% since the first of the month to approach a 52-week low.

It's an amazing drop for the one-time market darling. And many observers are shaking their heads in disbelief, since this company normally executes flawlessly. Now its executives look like boneheads.

What happened to Netflix?

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The company has infuriated users and investors by deciding to split its DVD business off from its streaming-video side. The DVD-by-mail business will be renamed Qwikster and have a separate website and billing system. Netflix shares were up 1% Thursday in midday trading to $129.82.

Why would Netflix split its baby down the middle like that? One analyst thinks something bigger is afoot here. Michael Pachter with Wedbush Morgan says that sloughing off the DVD business might suddenly make Netflix an acquisition candidate for Amazon (AMZN). Shares of Amazon fell nearly 3% in response.

Say what? Let's hear him out. Amazon already streams videos for members of its Amazon Prime service, but it doesn't have nearly the library or the active users that Netflix does. Amazon Prime is rather pathetic compared with Netflix, in fact.

Pachter thinks Amazon could buy Netflix and immediately become the market leader.

There's some logic to this. The competition for the online viewer is ratcheting up among Amazon, Apple (AAPL), Hulu.com and other sites. Buying Netflix would immediately shoot Amazon to the top.

And this ties directly in with the tablet computer Amazon is reportedly developing for later this year. Amazon will really be able to go after the iPad if it has Netflix as a major content source for the tablet.

But I suspect Amazon would rather go it alone without Netflix. For one thing, buying Netflix would be incredibly expensive. The company has huge licensing costs to boot, and it's unclear whether Netflix can sustain enough members to pay for those.

Amazon is working out its own licensing deals, albeit slowly, and will do so on terms that it's comfortable with. Also, Amazon has been busy setting up its own streaming infrastructure, and it's done so at the expense of profit. Every quarterly earnings report shows how much Amazon is spending on building out its pipeline.

Amazon has already laid out its own foundation and is more than capable of negotiating its own streaming deals with Hollywood. It doesn't need to buy Netflix. In fact, the way Netflix is going, Amazon may end up beating the company anyway.