Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings steps down as director of the famous streaming platform. However, he will not leave the company and will move to a more important position: that of executive president. The announcement was made last Thursday, at the time the company’s numbers were made public, whose results showed earnings of 4,491 million dollars throughout 2022.
Reed Hastings, 62, leaves behind a role he has held for 25 years to become CEO of Netflix. It has been Hastings himself who has announced who will be the new CEOs, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. Hastings and Marc Randolph founded Netflix back in 1997 and the rest is history.
One of the funniest anecdotes regarding the founding of Netflix is told by Hastings, since the idea for the platform came about after he paid a fine for not delivering a VHS of Apollo 13 on time. It was then that he rethought new ways to watch movies that were not so tedious.
Hastings leaves office in the middle of a moment where Netflix tries to implement a new business system oriented to advertising. The company is now a major player in the content creation landscape, and not just because of its distribution. The legacy that Hastings leaves behind is enormous and not even these difficult times have been able to with the company.
Despite everything, the numbers improve on Netflix
The restructuring of the management leadership occurs after knowing the good numbers of Netflix, which has managed to gain some 77 million users during the last stretch of 2022. This data improves the panorama in which the company was at the beginning of the same year, where they affirm that they went through a moment “tough, bumpy start”.
After the conclusion of 2022, Netflix grew by almost 2% compared to the previous period of 2021. During the third quarter, the company earned €1,419 million, a decrease of 3.5% compared to 2021. However, revenue increased to €8,047 million, up 5.9%.
One of the points that Netflix has decided to change is its measuring stick. Starting this month, the company will focus on revenue instead of the number of subscribers. To do this, one of the measures they will take will be to allow subscriber forecasts to be made.
Netflix is currently in negotiations for a limited theatrical release of the film Glass Onion, which is proving to be a huge hit. In addition, they are also betting on their games division, with numerous mobile titles.
As can be read in the post where he announces the changes, Hastings affirms that he will be in his new position “for many years.”
Netflix’s future problems
Despite the good financial results, Netflix still has several open fronts. One of them is the implementation of one of its most controversial actions, the restriction of shared accounts in different houses.
The move is curious to say the least, since even Netflix itself used this same situation as an advertising tool in the past. How far away is that carefree Netflix that put its consumers before other interests. Now, the panorama is quite different.
What will we see on Netflix during 2023?
To revive its numbers, the company is committed to new fiction and feature films full of big names: Wes Anderson or Bradley Cooper are good examples of this.
With the war of the platforms more current than ever (Disney + does not stop gaining subscribers thanks to its large catalogue), Netflix brings us movies like “You people”. The comedy directed by Kenya Barris has a cast full of stars like Jonah Hill, Lauren London or Eddie Murphy.
In addition to comedies, we will also see the return of dramas like “Luther: Night falls”. Co-produced with BBC Studios, we will have John Luther (played by Idris Elba), a policeman with (quite a few) internal dilemmas who will try to do justice in his own way.
During the middle of 2023 onwards, it will be released “Tyler Rake 2”, the sequel to the action film directed by the Russo brothers and starring the herculean Chris Hemsworth.
