Reed Hastings, the Netflix chair, is leaving the streaming service he co-founded 29 years ago as the company regains its footing after it lost its $72bn deal for Warner Bros Discovery.
In a letter to investors released on Thursday, Netflix said Hastings will not stand for re-election at its annual meeting in June and plans to focus on philanthropy and other pursuits.
The company’s stock dropped about 8% on the news of Hastings’ departure.
“Mr Hastings’ decision to not stand for re-election is not as a result of any disagreement with the company,” Netflix said in an SEC filing on Thursday. In a statement to Variety, Hastings said Netflix changed his life. The company has not named a successor.
“My all‑time favorite memory was January 2016, when we enabled nearly the entire planet to enjoy our service,” Hastings, 65, said, giving a “special thanks” to co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, “whose commitment to Netflix’s greatness is so strong that I can now focus on new things”.
Hastings co-founded Netflix 29 years ago in northern California and led it through its pivot from a mail-order DVD company to the avatar of the streaming TV age. He stepped down as CEO in 2023.
Netflix reaffirmed in a 14-page shareholder letter that its mission remains “ambitious and unchanged” – to entertain the world, providing movies and series for many tastes, cultures and languages. The company’s full-year financial outlook remained unchanged.
The company did not say how it plans to spend the $2.8bn termination fee it received after losing the Warner Bros movie studio and HBO.
Netflix sought to buy Warner Bros over the last year, but eventually backed down ceding the way for Paramount Skydance to buy the studio. Paramount is run by David Ellison, the son of Trump backer Larry Ellison.
In its earnings disclosure, the company announced that revenue rose to $12.25bn, an increase of 16% from the year-ago period, modestly exceeding analyst forecasts of $12.18bn.
Netflix, which told investors that a Warner Bros acquisition was a “nice to have, not need to have” proposition, highlighted areas of future growth.
The company said its investment in expanding its entertainment offerings with video podcasts, and live entertainment – such as the World Baseball Classic in Japan – is fueling engagement. It plans to use technology to improve the user experience and improve monetization, as advertising revenue remains on track to reach $3bn in 2026 – a twofold increase from a year ago.
