Reed Hastings (pictured) is retiring from his longtime leadership role at Netflix, after more than two decades at the helm of the streaming giant. 

He is passing the baton to Greg Peters, who joined the C-suite in July 2020 as COO and will now serve as co-CEO with Ted Sarandos.

Hastings co-founded the company with Marc Randolph in 1997 as a mail-order DVD rental service, and has served as CEO since 1999. By 2007, the company’s focus had shifted to streaming movies and TV content, and a disruptive new distribution channel was born. 

As part of the upper management shuffle, Netflix has promoted rising star Bela Bajaria from head of global TV to CCO, and head of film Scott Stuber has been upped to chairman of Netflix Film. Bajaria takes over for Sarandos, who had been overseeing all content operations. And Stuber’s remit now includes overall responsibility for film development, production and acquisitions. 

Hastings will remain involved at Netflix in a more limited role as executive chairman from this week on. “Ted, Greg and I have been working closely together in different capacities for 15 years,” he said in a release. “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.”

Hastings credited Sarandos for Netflix’s push into original programming and investment in international content. He also highlighted the work that Peters has put into building the streamer’s games division and AVOD tier, which appears to be working. According to the company’s Q4 earnings report that was released yesterday, the overall Netflix subscriber base has increased by 7.7 million, thanks in part to the AVOD launch. According to UK research firm Ampere, 8% of people who have signed up to Netflix or changed their plan since the AVOD rolled out have opted for this cheaper ad-based tier.

Image courtesy of re:publica/Gregor Fischer via Wikimedia Commons