Reed Hastings is stepping down as CEO of Netflix.
The streaming giant will see a new regime as current chief product officer and chief operating officer Greg Peters and chief content officer Ted Sarandos will jointly step into the role after the 62-year-old founder announced his decision to step aside.
After creating the company with Marc Randolph in 1997 as a DVD mail rental service as a rival to the now-defunct Blockbuster, he took it to new heights by leading the streaming revolution in Hollywood for TV and films but is happy to leave it in their trusty hands, especially after the struggles prompted by the COVID-19.
Reed said: “In the last two and a half years, I’ve increasingly delegated the management of Netflix to them.
“It was a baptism by fire, given Covid and recent challenges within our business.
“But they’ve both managed incredibly well, ensuring Netflix continues to improve and developing a clear path to reaccelerate our revenue and earnings growth. So the board and I believe it’s the right time to complete my succession.”
Netflix has been facing a dip in consumer spending and increased competition in the streamer market from services like Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Go.
During the first six months of 2022, the company reported losing account holders but in the latter half, Netflix saw growth in subscriptions amid their creative efforts to stop the practise of account sharing.
Reed - who is one of the business’ biggest individual shareholder - outlined his intentions to work with Greg and Ted for “many years to come”.
He added: “I’ll also be spending more time on philanthropy, and remain very focused on Netflix stock doing well.”
