April 16 (UPI) — Netflix found and former CEO Reed Hastings announced on Thursday that he will resign from its board and leave the company later this year.
Hastings, whose idea for a mail-based DVD rental service that invented the television and movie streaming industry, said in a statement that when his term as chairman of the Netflix board ends in June, he will not seek re-election, The Los Angeles Times reported.
He said he made the decision to leave because the company’s current co-chief executives, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, are “so strong that I can focus on new things.”
The exponential growth of Netflix, which now includes merchandise, physical pop-up events, live streaming major sporting events and a growing advertising division, has been credited in large part to Hastings’ investment in developing streaming technology and his shrewd content licensing strategy, Axios reported.
Hastings left his role as CEO in 2023, becoming executive chairman of the company, has in recent years invested in skiing, having bought a $100 stake in a Utah resort development that he calls “PowMow,” The Hollywood Reporter reported.
“My real contribution at Netflix wasn’t a single decision; it was a focus on member joy, building a culture that others could inherit and improve, and building a company that could be both beloved by members and wildly successful for generations to come,” Hastings said in the statement.
Netflix, which reported $12.3 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2026 and has more than 325 million global subscribers, was reportedly inspired by a $40 late fee on a rented VHS copy of the movie “Apollo 13.”
Hastings idea, which occurred to him in 1997, turned into the first iteration of Netflix, allowing subscribers to pay a monthly fee to rent DVDs through the mail and, as long as the monthly fee was paid, hold on to them for as long as the subscriber wanted.
The concept helped put video stores out of business, and Netflix’s eventual pivot to streaming shows and movies for a set fee helped to initiate the current era of streaming services.
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