Reed Hastings is the co-founder and co-chief executive officer (CEO) of the subscription streaming service Netflix.
Hastings began his career at Adaptive Technology, where he created a tool that debugs software. In 1991, he left Adaptive Technology to found his first company, Pure Software. The company developed tools to troubleshoot softwares. The company grew at a rapid clip with revenue doubling every year. But, with that came a matching growth in headcount, which Hastings struggled to handle as he lacked managerial experience. Hastings said his transformation from engineer to CEO was when Morgan Stanley took the firm public in 1995. The company was eventually acquired by Rational Software in 1997 for $750 million, which gave Hastings the funds to start Netflix.
Founding of Netflix
In 1997, Hastings co-founded Netflix with Marc Randolph, his former Pure Software employee. The firm came up with a business model based on mail-order subscriptions that took advantage of two emerging technologies—DVDs and the internet. Netflix had a website to order from which was more convenient than paper catalogues and DVDs were easier to mail than VHS cassettes. By the early 2000s, DVD players were a popular gift for holiday sales and demand for DVD subscription services were "growing like crazy", according to the firm’s chief talent officer at the time. The company went public in 2002 and posted its first profit the following year.
Transition to streaming
In 2007, Netflix launched a streaming service that allows subscribers to stream movies and TV shows on their computers. Hastings believes internet television is the future of viewing and credits YouTube for this shift in business strategy. By 2009, streams on the platform overtook DVD shipments. In 2013, Netflix started launching original programming and has since released several hits including House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black and Stranger Things. By 2016, amid the continued success of its streaming business, Netflix rebranded its DVD-by-mail service under the name DVD.com, A Netflix Company. As of October 2021, Netflix had over 214 million subscribers worldwide. This includes 74 million in the US and Canada, 70 million in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 39 million in Latin America and 30 million in Asia-Pacific.
Early life and education
Hastings was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1960. He went to school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Before entering college, he took a gap year and sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door. Hastings graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. He then obtained a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University.
Personal life
Hastings lives in Santa Cruz, California. He has a wife and two children.
Why has Netflix not been able to crack the Indian market?
