One of two people who created their popular network of films and series. Netflixwhich experienced impressive growth during the pandemic, o Reed Hastings, resigned. The man who turned Hollywood upside down by streaming movies and series online is handing over the reins to his longtime partner, who is also of Greek descent. Ted Sarando. The latter was a co-CEO, which he will retain and serve alongside Netflix CEO Greg Peters. In pre-market trading yesterday, Netflix’s share price rose 6.1% to $335.05 as the streaming pioneer also said it had more subscribers than expected late last year. The company is under pressure after losing customers in the first half of 2022. Once a Wall Street darling, its stock has fallen nearly 38% over the past year. In addition to Hastings, the co-founder of the platform is Mark Randolph.

Sarando and Peters will share the position of managing directors, with Reed Hastings becoming executive chairman. The change takes effect immediately, marking the culmination of a decade of succession planning in the Netflix boardroom. Both Peters and Sarando were promoted in July 2020 at a difficult time for the company. “It was a baptism of fire given the coronavirus pandemic and the challenges in our business,” Hastings said. “But they’ve both been incredibly successful, so the board and I feel it’s time to move on to my succession.” Hastings stepped down as his creation, Netflix, added 7.66 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2022, beating Wall Street’s forecast of 4.57 million, helped by Harry & Meghan and Wednesday in the battle to attract streaming viewers. However, earnings per share were 12 cents, below the 45 cents expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv.

Netflix predicts “modest” subscriber growth in March. He predicts revenue growth of 4% year on year in the first quarter of 2023 driven by new revenue streams. The company has to contend with the fact that amid widespread cost-of-living concerns, users are cutting back on consumer spending and also facing competition from similar streaming services from Walt Disney, Amazon.com and others that spend billions of dollars. dollars to create TV shows and movies for online audiences. Netflix lost customers in the first half of 2022 and rebounded in the next, but new customer growth remains below the pace of recent years. At the end of December, the company’s global subscriber base reached 231 million people. Last November, Netflix introduced a cheaper post-ad option in 12 countries and announced plans to stop sharing passwords.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG