Reed Hastings, the co-founder of Netflix Inc., announced on Thursday that he will step down as CEO and transfer control of the streaming service to Greg Peters, the company’s COO, and Ted Sarandos, his longstanding business partner and co-CEO.
Sarandos and Peters will share the title of chief executives, with Hastings serving as executive chairman. The decision, which is the result of ten years of board succession planning, is effective right away. Peters and Sarandos both received promotions in July 2020, which came at a difficult time for the business.
“It was a baptism by fire, given Covid and recent challenges within our business,” Hastings wrote in a blog post announcing his departure. “But they’ve both managed incredibly well … so the board and I believe it’s the right time to compete my succession.”
Netflix added 7.66 million subscribers in the fourth quarter
Hastings left as Netflix announced that it added 7.66 million subscribers in the fourth quarter, above Wall Street expectations of 4.57 million thanks to the success of “Harry & Meghan” and “Wednesday” in the competition to draw viewers for streaming television.
Walt Disney Co., Amazon.com Inc., and other companies have been investing billions of dollars to produce TV shows and movies for online audiences, putting pressure on the pioneer of streaming video.
Customers stopped using Netflix in the first half of 2022. In the second half, it resumed growing, but the rate of new client additions is still below that of recent years.
In 12 nations last November, Netflix unveiled a less expensive, ad-supported option to jumpstart growth. Plans to cut down on password sharing have also been made public.
At the end of December, the firm had 231 million subscribers worldwide.
Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s head of global television, was named chief content officer
Wednesday, the third-most watched program in Netflix history, had a large audience, the firm claimed. During the quarter, the murder mystery “Glass Onion” and the British royals documentary “Harry & Meghan” both enjoyed success.
From $607 million or $1.33 per share a year earlier, net income decreased to $55 million or 12 cents per share. Revenue increased by 1.9% to $7.85 billion, as predicted.
The position of the chief content officer was given to Netflix’s head of global television, Bela Bajaria.