Co-founder of Netflix, steps down as co-CEO and becomes executive chairman

The move follows a strong Q4 2022 performance in which the platform added 7.66 million customers, above Wall Street projections of 4.57 million.

(c) CNBC

Reed Hastings, the creator of Netflix, announced his resignation as the company’s CEO on Thursday, January 19, 2022, concurrently with the release of Netflix’s financial report for the fourth quarter of 2022.

Hastings co-founded the firm with entrepreneur Marc Randolph in 1997. Randolph tweeted that his seven years working with Hastings were the “highlight” of his more than four decades as an entrepreneur.

Hastings stated in a blog post that the succession plan has been in the works for “many years.”

“Our board has been debating succession planning for a number of years (even founders must change!).” As part of this strategy, we promoted Ted [Sarandos] to co-CEO with me in July 2020, and Greg [Peters] to chief operating officer – and over the past two and a half years, I’ve outsourced more and more of Netflix’s management to them,” Hastings wrote.

Peters and Sarandos will assume the job of co-CEO, and Hastings will assume the role of executive chairman, a position he observes other company founders frequently assume. Hastings stated, “In the future, I will serve as executive chairman, a position that founders commonly assume (Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, etc.) after passing the CEO torch to others.” As chairman, he will serve as “a link between the board and our co-CEOs.”

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Hastings stated that he is excited to continue serving in the position for “many years to come.”

The boss also stated that he will devote more time to charities.

Hastings acknowledged Sarandos’ “early insight and competence” for pushing the firm to generate original content, which altered the company’s “trajectory,” while Peters is recognized for promoting partnerships and for presently constructing their games project.

The moves are a result of the streaming giant’s strong performance in the fourth quarter of 2022, in which it gained 7.66 million subscribers, surpassing Wall Street’s estimate of 4.57 million, with shows like Harry & Meghan and Wednesday, which has become the third most-watched show in its history, credited with helping to attract viewers.