Reed Hastings, co-founder of streaming giant Netflix is stepping down from his role as co-chief executive of the company. Hastings will be replaced by Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, who will be co-CEOs of the company founded by Hastings more than 25 years ago. This comes even as Netflix announced a big growth in subscriber numbers at the end of 2022.
"Starting today, Greg Peters will step up from COO to become Ted’s co-CEO. Going forward, I’ll be serving as Executive Chairman, a role that founders often take (Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, etc.) after they pass the CEO baton to others. Ted, Greg and I have been working closely together in different capacities for 15 years. As is common in long, effective relationships, we’ve all learned how to bring out the best in each other. I look forward to working with them in this role for many years to come," Hastings said in a statement on Friday.
Sarandos was working as a co-CEO alongside Hastings in July 2020 amid a challenging time for the company, and Peters as Chief Operating Officer (COO).
"For myself, I’ll be helping Greg and Ted, and, like any good chairman, be a bridge from the board to our co-CEOs. I’ll also be spending more time on philanthropy, and remain very focused on Netflix stock doing well. We start 2023 with renewed momentum as a company and a clear path to reaccelerate our growth. I’m thrilled about Ted and Greg’s leadership, and their ability to make the next 25 years even better than the first," Hastings added.
Hastings is leaving Netflix at a time when the company has said it has added 7.66 million subscribers in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022, beating Wall Street estimates of 4.57 million with a big draw coming from "Harry & Meghan" and "Wednesday".
Meanwhile, Netflix has also named Bela Bajaria as Chief Content Officer and Scott Stuber as Chairman of Netflix Film.