Lots of businesses seem to be changing hands lately; Bob Iger returning and ousting Bob Chapek‘s place at Disney, and Stephanie McMahon leaving WWE following her father, Vince McMahon‘s return. In a somewhat shocking turn of events, Netflix co-founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings is also stepping down. While he’ll stay on as Executive Chairman, he’s handing CEO responsibilities to Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos.
While this may seem sudden, Hastings says this was the plan for quite some time. Impressed by Peters and Sarandos’ handling of the pandemic and recent business challenges, Hastings decided they were the perfect duo for taking his place. Sarandos has been co-CEO since 2020.
According to analyst Rich Greenfield, it sounds a lot like Peters has been in training for the position for some time. “Reed has been grooming Greg for this job for years,” Greenfield said. “This is the combination of a product person and a tech person in Greg with a content person in Ted…Reed recognizing that Netflix is more than Reed Hastings, which is admirable for a sector that has let ego get in the way of succession time, and again.” Taking on more and more responsibilities for the company, including advertising and Netflix’s push into gaming.
On top of Peters’ succession, Bela Bajaria is now Netflix’s Chief Content Officer, and Scott Stuber is now Chairman of Netflix Film. Sounds like there’s a bit of a paradigm shift happening within the streaming giant’s walls. Whether things change for better or worse remains to be seen. Hastings remaining as chairman means he’ll still serve the company. acting as a bridge from the Netflix board to its co-CEOs, but says he’ll be focusing more on philanthropy and Netflix’s stock.
