Christian George
Netflix co-founder and co-CEO, Reed Hastings, is stepping down after piloting the affairs of the company for about two decades.
This is just as the streaming giant announced that its number of subscribers peaked to 230 million in 2022.
The news about Hastings’ resignation was made available on the company’s blog while Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos will occupy the tandem role.
Report has it that Hastings will stay involved with the company as executive chairman of the board, following a precedent shared by other prominent major tech company founders, including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Microsoft’s Bill Gates.
However, amid Hastings’ resignation, Netflix reported that it added an additional 7.7 million subscribers in its forth quarter earnings, making it a total of 230.75 million worldwide, smashing its previous target of 227.59 million and has earned $7.85 billion same quarter which represents 4% year over year growth in total subscription with paid memberships rising by 910,000 in the U.S. and Canada, 3.2 million throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 1.76 million in Latin America and 1.8 million in the Asia-Pacific region.
Talking about his successors, Hastings said “It was a baptism by fire, given COVID and recent challenges within our business”, adding that “they’ve both managed incredibly well, ensuring Netflix continues to improve and develope 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.”
