Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder and CEO, is in Sydney on February 25, 2022 to meet with executives from other subscription streaming services.
Wolter Peeters | Fairfax Media | Getty Images
Netflix founder Reed Hastings is stepping down from his CEO role but remains chairman, the company announced along with its earnings report on Thursday.
Co-CEO Ted Sarandos will remain in his position. Greg Peters, most recently Chief Operating Officer, will replace Hastings as co-CEO. Peters will also join the company’s board of directors.
“I want to thank Reed for his visionary leadership, mentorship and friendship over the past 20 years. We have all learned so much from his intellectual rigor, honesty and willingness to make big bets – and we look forward to working with him for many more years to come,” Sarandos said in a written statement.
Hastings co-founded Netflix in 1997. Sarandos was promoted to co-CEO alongside Hastings in July 2020, at the same time that Peters was promoted to his COO role. The company did not specify in its Thursday announcement whether it would fill the role of COO.
Hastings tweeted Thursday that he plans to stay on as executive chairman “for many years.” He’s leaving the helm as the company tries different ways to grow subscribers and recover after slumping business in recent quarters.
Hastings wrote in a blog post on Thursday that the period of the last two and a half years has been “a baptism of fire in light of COVID and the recent challenges in our business”.
The executive reshuffle will also see Bela Bajaria, who served as the company’s global television chief, stepping in as chief content officer. Scott Stuber, who previously headed Global Film, will become Chairman of Netflix Film.
The succession announcement will be made along with the company’s fourth quarter earnings report. The streaming company met Wall Street’s revenue expectations, registering millions more subscribers than expected.
Correction: Netflix was founded in 1997. In an earlier version of this story, the year was given incorrectly in some cases.