Reed Hastings

Reed Hastings was born on October 8, 1960, in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied mathematics at Bowdoin College and graduated with a B.A. in 1983.⁠[1][2]

Between Bowdoin and StanfordStanford UniversityStanford University is a research university in California founded by Leland and Jane Stanford in 1885 and opened in 1891.Open the full entry he served in the Peace Corps as a high school math teacher in Swaziland (now Eswatini). In 1988 he received an M.S. in computer science, in artificial intelligence, from Stanford University.⁠[2][1]

In 1991 Hastings founded Pure Software, which made tools for software developers. The company went public in 1995, made several acquisitions, became Pure Atria and was acquired by Rational Software in 1997.⁠[2][1]

In 1997, after paying a large late fee on a rented videocassette, Hastings conceived a subscription movie-rental service and reasoned that the then-new DVD format would travel well by mail. That year he and Marc Randolph incorporated Netflix, whose mail-order DVD operations began in 1998.⁠[1]

Hastings served as Netflix’s chairman and CEO from 1999.⁠[3]

In 2011 Netflix announced a price increase and a plan to split off its DVD business as a separate service called Qwikster, then canceled the spin-off after losing customers and seeing its stock price fall. In 2013 its first original series, House of Cards, debuted, and original content became a major focus of the company.⁠[1]

After about 25 years as Netflix’s CEO, Hastings stepped down as co-CEO in 2023 and became executive chairman, with Ted SarandosTed SarandosTed Sarandos is an American entertainment executive and co-chief executive officer of Netflix. He joined Netflix in 2000, long oversaw its content business, drove the company’s development of original film and television programming, and became co-chief executive officer in 2020.Open the full entry and Greg Peters sharing the co-CEO role.⁠[4][5]

From 2000 to 2004 Hastings served on the California State Board of Education as its president. He has long been active in educational philanthropy, particularly charter schools, and has served on the boards of education organizations including KIPP, Pahara and DreamBox Learning.⁠[1][2]

Hastings served on the board of Microsoft from 2007 to 2012; he also served on the boards of Facebook and BloombergBloomberg L.P.Bloomberg L.P. is a global financial technology, data and media company founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981. It began by providing terminal services that deliver data, analytics and news to financial professionals, and launched Bloomberg News in 1990. Michael Bloomberg has pledged the vast majority of the company’s profits to his philanthropic organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies.Open the full entry.⁠[2][6]

On February 25, 2017, Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry (a16z) published the podcast episode “a16z Podcast: Tech and Entertainment in the 'Era of Mass Customization'” on its website, featuring a conversation at a16z’s inaugural summit event between Marc AndreessenMarc AndreessenMarc Andreessen is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, a co-founder and general partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). While in college he helped develop the graphical web browser Mosaic, then co-founded Netscape and Loudcloud (later renamed Opsware), and has long served as a director of Meta; he has also published essays such as “Why Software Is Eating the World.”Open the full entry, the firm’s cofounder and general partner, and Hastings, then Netflix’s CEO and co-founder. The episode was uploaded to the a16z YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel on January 1, 2019.⁠[7][8]

The show notes open with the premise of an alternative universe in which Netflix was disrupted by another streaming-content company, and discuss how Netflix cannibalized, or “hybridized,” its own core business, and the relationship between technology and entertainment in an era of mass customization. Hastings argued that leaders need more sophisticated metaphors than “only the paranoid survive” to decide which competitive path to explore.⁠[7]

On May 28, 2025, AnthropicAnthropicAnthropic is an artificial intelligence research and product company founded in 2021 that develops the Claude models, assistant, and tools such as Claude Code, and operates as a public benefit corporation. Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei are its co-founders, and its research covers model safety, interpretability, and steerability.Open the full entry announced that its Long Term Benefit Trust had appointed Hastings to the company’s board of directors. He said, “I'm joining Anthropic's board because I believe in their approach to AI development.”⁠[6]

On April 16, 2026, Netflix announced with its first-quarter results that co-founder and executive chairman Hastings would not seek re-election to the board and would leave when his term expired in June, focusing on his philanthropy and other pursuits. Co-CEO Greg Peters said, “Reed will always be Netflix's founder and biggest champion—he is a part of our DNA.” Co-CEO Ted Sarandos denied that the departure was connected to the company’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.⁠[5]

Hastings co-wrote the book No Rules Rules with Erin Meyer.⁠[3]