Reed Hastings
Born 1960 · Age 65
American entrepreneur, co-founder and long-time CEO of Netflix, education philanthropist and pro-charter-schools advocate.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Boston, Massachusetts
Wilmot Reed Hastings Jr. born to Wilmot Reed Hastings Sr. and Joan Amory Loomis.
Graduated high school (Buckingham Browne & Nichols School)
Completed secondary schooling in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Marine Corps Officer Candidate School (Quantico) summer session
Participated in Officer Candidate School boot camp during a college summer; later did not commission.
Gap year: sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door
Sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door during a gap year before college.
Joined Peace Corps — deployed to Swaziland
Served as a high-school math teacher in rural northwest Swaziland; served approximately 1983–1985.
Graduated Bowdoin College (BA in Mathematics)
Received Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Bowdoin College; remained engaged with alma mater later in life.
Returned from Peace Corps
Returned to the U.S.; credited Peace Corps experience with contributing to entrepreneurial mindset.
Graduated Stanford University (M.S. in Computer Science)
Completed master's degree (computer science/artificial intelligence) at Stanford University.
First job at Adaptive Technology
Worked at Adaptive Technology and created a software debugging tool; met future mentor Audrey MacLean (1990).
Met Audrey MacLean (mentor figure)
Met Audrey MacLean while she was CEO at Adaptive Corp; later credited her with teaching value of focus.
Founded Pure Software
Left Adaptive Technology to found Pure Software, which made tools to troubleshoot software.
Pure Software merged with Atria Software
Merger integrated Pure's bug-detection tools with Atria's development-management tools; integration challenges followed.
Conceived and co-founded Netflix, Inc.
With Marc Randolph co-founded Netflix (incorporated 1997) to offer DVD-by-mail rental service; anecdotal inspiration was a late fee for Apollo 13.
Pure Atria acquired by Rational Software (exit)
Combined company (Pure Atria) was acquired by Rational Software; Hastings became CTO of combined entity and left soon after.
Netflix began mail-order DVD operations
Netflix started operations (mail-order DVD rental) and Hastings became CEO later that year.
Introduced unlimited monthly subscription option
By December 1999 Netflix offered a set monthly fee for unlimited DVD rentals—a landmark change to the business model.
Appointed to California State Board of Education
Governor Gray Davis appointed Hastings to the State Board of Education; he later became its president.
Funded Proposition 39 campaign (education bonds)
Spent $1 million of his own money and worked with John Doerr ($6M) to promote passage of Prop 39 to lower local school bond approval threshold.
Became President of the California State Board of Education
Elevated to president of the State Board; active in education reform while serving.
Authored Wall Street Journal op-ed 'Expense It!'
Published opinion advocating expensing stock options (April 2004).
California Senate refused to confirm him as Board president; he resigned
Faced opposition over education policy positions; the California State Legislature rejected him in January 2005 and he resigned thereafter.
Donated $1M to open charter schools (Beacon Education Network)
Donated $1 million to Beacon Education Network to open charter schools in Santa Cruz County.
Launched Netflix streaming service
Netflix launched a service to stream movies and TV shows to computers (2007), a major strategic pivot toward internet television.
Joined Microsoft board
Became a director at Microsoft (served 2007–2012).
Shipped Netflix's billionth DVD
By February 2007 Netflix shipped the 1,000,000,000th DVD milestone.
Published Netflix culture deck publicly
Posted internal 'Freedom and Responsibility' culture guide publicly (August 2009); later became well-known hiring/culture document.
Joined Facebook board of directors
Appointed to Facebook's board in June 2011; served through May 2019.
Announced price hike and Qwikster spin-off (major misstep)
Raised prices and planned to split DVD business as Qwikster — customer backlash and stock drop followed; spin-off later canceled.
Reversed Qwikster spin-off decision
Netflix canceled the planned Qwikster spin-off and backtracked on the announced changes after intense negative reaction.
Released first slate of Netflix original programming (House of Cards)
House of Cards premiered (2013), marking a major push into original programming and content production.
Recognized by Stanford GSB (Entrepreneurial Company of the Year)
Netflix and Hastings featured in Stanford GSB Entrepreneurial Company of the Year materials (Oct 15, 2014 event reference).
Opened donor-advised fund at Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($100M)
Placed $100 million in a donor-advised fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to support philanthropic activities.
Donated $30M to Gavi (COVAX support)
Hastings and his wife donated $30 million to Gavi to support global COVAX COVID-19 vaccine access (reported Nov 2019/2020 context).
Ted Sarandos announced as co-CEO (Netflix)
Company announced Ted Sarandos would serve as co-CEO with Hastings (marking first formal co-CEO arrangement reported in 2020).
Donated $120M to HBCUs and UNCF
Announced a $120 million donation split equally among the United Negro College Fund, Morehouse College and Spelman College—the largest individual gift for HBCU scholarships.
Co-authored 'No Rules Rules' (Netflix culture book) — NYT Bestseller
Co-wrote the book with Erin Meyer; it became a New York Times bestseller and was shortlisted for FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year.
Netflix surpassed 200M members (company milestone)
By 2021 Netflix had grown to more than 200 million members worldwide (company became world-leading streaming service).
Became Executive Chair of Netflix (stepped down as CEO/co-CEO)
After 25 years as CEO, transitioned into executive chairman / executive chair role (company governance change 2023).
Majority owner of Powder Mountain after $100M investment
Invested $100 million and became majority owner of Powder Mountain ski resort in Utah; announced plans for members-only club and development.
Appointed to Bloomberg L.P. board
Joined the board of directors of Bloomberg L.P. (press release Oct 23, 2023).
Public political actions and donations (notable)
Gave $3M to defeat the 2021 Newsom recall earlier; in 2024 publicly urged Biden to step aside (July 3) and later (July 23) donated multimillion dollars to a Super PAC backing Kamala Harris.
Announced redevelopment plans for Powder Mountain
Announced plans to convert half the mountain into a members-only ski club and to develop residential and arts projects; removed lots from market during planning.
Donated ~$1.1B in Netflix stock to Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Gifted approximately $1.1 billion worth of Netflix shares (~2 million shares reported) to the SV Community Foundation to support philanthropy.
Appointed to Anthropic board
Added to the board of AI company Anthropic (reported May 28, 2025 — recorded here as close to reporting timeframe).
Gifted $50M to Bowdoin College for Hastings Initiative for AI & Humanity
Bowdoin College announced a $50 million gift from Hastings to create the Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity—the school's largest gift to date.
Donated $2M to support Ukraine (Russo-Ukrainian War)
Made a $2 million donation to support Ukraine in the war (reported March 2025).
Netflix board title change reported (executive chairman → chairman)
Deadline and company reports noted Hastings shifting title from executive chairman to chairman (April 2025 governance update cited).
Forbes estimates net worth at $6.6B (May 2025)
Forbes reported Hastings's net worth as approximately $6.6 billion in May 2025.
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