As a result of Hastings’ decision, Netflix has decided to step down from its co-CEO position. In the future, he will serve as executive chairman of the company. Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters will take over Hastings’ duties as co-CEOs of Netflix starting next month. It was he who founded Netflix (NFLX) in 1997, changing the way countless households watched movies and shows for the better, with its DVD-by-mail services and subsequently with its streaming video services that have changed the way the world watches movies and shows.
“Our board has been discussing succession planning for many years (even founders need to evolve!),” Hastings wrote in a blog post on Thursday. “As part of that process, we promoted Ted to co-CEO alongside me in July 2020, and Greg to Chief Operating Officer — and in the last 2½ years I’ve increasingly delegated the management of Netflix to them.”
While Netflix has been losing subscribers in recent years as a result of increased competition from rival streaming services, the company’s stock and reputation have taken a hit as a result. For the first time in Netflix’s history, Netflix has introduced a lower-priced tier that is supported by ads for the first time.
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There may be a payoff as a result of those changes. During the final three months of last year, the company reported adding more than 7.6 million subscribers to its customer base, according to an earnings report it released. As of now, it has a total of more than 230 million paying subscribers worldwide.
Some reports claim that Microsoft may be in the process of acquiring Netflix this year, and this is something worth keeping in mind here. Microsoft has been selected as the advertising partner for Netflix’s new advertising-supported subscription service which will be supported by advertising. It should be noted that Microsoft President Brad Smith is also a member of Netflix’s board of directors. One of the main reasons behind this deal is that Microsoft wants to offer a video-game streaming service over multiple devices.
