Reed Hastings, who co-founded Netflix and has served as its CEO for more than 20 years, is stepping down and appointing Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters to take over.
The company’s public face in Hollywood is Sarandos, who was already co-CEO, while Peters, who was formerly chief operating officer, has been in charge of its product development and drive into advertising. Hastings, 62, will lead the business as executive chairman.
“Our board has been discussing succession planning for many years (even founders need to evolve!),” Hastings said in a blog post. “The board and I believe it’s the right time to complete my succession.”
In a research note, JPMorgan Chase analyst Doug Anmuth predicted a “seamless transfer” to new management and stated that Hastings would “stay very close to the company in terms of strategy & major product choices.”
Netflix had a successful year to a close. In the fourth quarter of 2022, the business added 7.7 million subscribers, considerably exceeding the 4. 5 million average projection of Wall Street analysts. At $7.9 billion, revenue matched expectations.
The company predicted that its profit margin and free cash flow would increase in the coming year, despite the fact that its earnings, at 12 cents per share, were significantly lower than during the same period last year.
On Friday, the stock increased by about 7% in premarket trading. A minimum of 1% growth was also seen in the shares of Walt Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Paramount Global, though some Wall Street analysts advised against extrapolating broader trends for streaming services.
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