Reed Hastings Stepping Down from Netflix CEO Role

Reed Hastings is exiting his co-CEO role at Netflix, but will remain as chairman.

Ted Sarandos became co-CEO of Netflix in July 2020, and Greg Peters was named chief operating officer. Now, Peters will move into the co-CEO role alongside Sarandos, while Hastings serves as executive chairman. Hastings says he plans to spend more time on philanthropy and remain “very focused” on Netflix stock doing well.

Additionally, Bela Bajaria becomes chief content officer, and Scott Stuber has been named chairman of Netflix Film.

“I’m so proud of our first 25 years and so excited about our next quarter of a century,” Hastings said. “We can do so much more to better entertain the world and deliver more joy to our members.”

He added, “Ted, Greg and I have been working closely together in different capacities for 15 years. As is common in long, effective relationships, we’ve all learned how to bring out the best in each other. I look forward to working with them in this role for many years to come.

“Ted and Greg have developed great trust and respect for each other through their collective successes and failures. In addition, they can always be relied upon to put Netflix’s interests first. These qualities—combined with their complementary skill sets, deep knowledge of entertainment and technology, and proven track record at Netflix—create a unique opportunity to deliver faster growth and greater success long-term with them as co-CEOs.

“Looking back, Ted had the early foresight and skill to push into original programming, changing our trajectory as a company. He then moved quickly to expand into international originals, film, animation and unscripted—bets that have helped broaden our content slate and which took courage given all the skepticism. Greg has been instrumental in driving our partnerships, building and launching advertising, pushing us into deeper personalization, rebuilding our talent organization and helping to strengthen our culture. He also spent several years in Japan launching our early efforts in Japanese originals as the country’s general manager and is currently building out our games initiative.”

Hastings continued, “We start 2023 with renewed momentum as a company and a clear path to reaccelerate our growth. I’m thrilled about Ted and Greg’s leadership and their ability to make the next 25 years even better than the first.”