Key Takeaways:
- End of an Era: Co-founder Reed Hastings will exit the board in June, fully transitioning away from the company he led for nearly 30 years.
- Leadership Stability: Executives clarified the exit is unrelated to the failed Warner Bros. bid, emphasizing a smooth transition under the current co-CEOs.
- Diversified Growth: Despite weaker quarterly guidance, Netflix is successfully pivoting toward live sports, podcasts, and an ad-supported tier projected to earn $3 billion in 2026.
Netflix co-founder and executive chairman Reed Hastings will step down from the company’s board in June, ending nearly 30 years at the streaming giant he helped build into a global entertainment leader.
Netflix announced Thursday that Hastings will not seek re-election when his board term expires at the company’s annual meeting in June. The move comes less than three years after Hastings stepped down as co-CEO and became executive chairman.
Hastings said he plans to focus on philanthropy and other interests after leaving the board. He said his work at Netflix centered on “member joy,” building a strong company culture, and creating a business that could succeed for generations.
“Netflix changed my life,” Hastings said in a message to shareholders.
Reed Hastings Ends Nearly Three Decades at Netflix
Hastings founded Netflix in 1997 as a DVD-by-mail company. Under his leadership, the company later shifted to streaming, introduced original programming, and expanded into more than 190 countries.
By the time Reed Hastings stepped down as co-CEO in 2023, Netflix had more than 230 million paid subscribers worldwide. As of January 2026, the company had reached 325 million paid subscribers.
Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters praised Hastings in statements released with the company’s first-quarter earnings report.
“Reed will always be Netflix’s founder and biggest champion; he is a part of our DNA,” Peters said.
Sarandos said Hastings was “no ordinary founder” and said the company’s board would begin reshaping itself in the coming months.
Netflix Rejects Link to Warner Bros. Bid Collapse
Hastings’ departure comes less than two months after Netflix dropped out of a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, which was later acquired by Paramount.
During a call with investors, Sarandos rejected speculation that Hastings’ exit was tied to the failed bid.
“Reed was a big champion for that deal,” Sarandos said. “That absolutely had nothing to do with it.”
Netflix said Hastings informed the company on April 10 that he would not stand for re-election and that his decision was not related to any disagreement with the company.
The company reported first-quarter revenue of $12.25 billion, up 16% from a year earlier. However, Netflix shares fell after the company issued weaker-than-expected guidance for the second quarter.
Streaming Giant Expands Beyond Traditional TV
Since Reed Hastings stepped back from day-to-day leadership, Netflix has continued to grow under Sarandos and Peters.
The company cracked down on password sharing in 2023, a move that helped add millions of subscribers. Netflix also expanded into live sports, advertising, and podcasting.
On Thursday, Netflix announced new podcast projects, including one hosted by journalist Brian Williams.
Netflix expects advertising revenue to reach about $3 billion in 2026 as its lower-cost ad-supported subscription plan grows.
Outside Netflix, Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to education causes through a philanthropic fund they launched in 2016.
