United States streaming giant Netflix ended last year with more than 230 million global subscribers, it said Thursday, beating analysts’ expectations as hits such as “Wednesday” and “Harry & Meghan” enticed new viewers.
“It feels like yesterday was our IPO; we were covered in red envelopes,” Hastings said during an earnings call.
“Hopefully, some of you have held the stock for all 21 years.”
Netflix became a publicly traded company in early 2002 at an opening price of $15 a share.
Shares in the streaming television service were up nearly 7 percent to $337.31 in after-market trades that followed release of the earnings figures.
The Netflix board has been discussing succession planning for many years, Hastings pointed out in a blog post, joking “even founders need to evolve!”
He said he would hold the new job of executive chairman, noting this was a role that tech giant founders often took, using Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Microsoft’s Bill Gates as examples.
The changing of the guard was announced as Netflix posted added subscribers that blew past even the most optimistic expectations.
The streaming giant said it enticed 7.7 million new members in three months, bringing Netflix membership around the world to 230 million people.
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Netflix praised a successful slate of new content that included horror-themed comedy “Wednesday,” saying the “Addams Family” spinoff was the company’s third most popular series ever.
Royal tell-all documentary “Harry & Meghan” also scored, Netflix said, as well as “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” starring Daniel Craig.
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