Netflix founder Reed Hastings says he has resigned his position as the company’s co-chief executive officer and will transition into an executive chairman role with the company, effective immediately.
In a statement published on Thursday, Hastings said the Netflix board “has been discussion succession planning for many years,” and that the time was right to promote Greg Peters to the co-CEO role, a position he will share with current co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
“Ted, Greg and I have been working closely together in different capacities for 15 years,” Hastings said. “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.”
In addition to Peters’ promotion, Netflix has elevated Bela Bajaria to succeed Peters as chief content officers, and Scott Stuber has been named chairman of Netflix’s film division.
Hastings said he will serve as “a bridge from the board to our co-CEOs” moving forward, and will spend more time on his philanthropic endeavors after the change.
The executive shuffle was made in tandem with the release of Netflix’s quarterly earnings report on Thursday, which beat Wall Street estimates on subscribers, but missed on earnings per share.
According to the earnings report, Netflix’s global paid subscriber base grew to 7.66 million new accounts, significantly higher than the 4.57 million accounts financial analysts had predicted for the quarter. It ended the quarter with 231 million global subscribers.
Revenue was in line with estimates at $7.85 billion for the quarter, but the company reported earnings per share of just 12 cents, much lower than the 45 cents per share that was expected.
Netflix says new television programs like “Wednesday,” “Harry and Meghan” and the film “Glass Onion” helped spur interest in the streaming service at a time when the space has become increasingly competitive.
