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The businessman who turned Netflix from a DVD delivery service into the world’s biggest streaming giant has announced plans to step down as chairman.

Reed Hastings, who co-founded Netflix alongside Marc Randolph in 1997, said on Thursday that he would leave the US media company after three decades in June.

It brings an end to 29 years at Netflix for Mr Hastings, who revolutionised TV entertainment and turned the US company into a $455bn media behemoth.

He is most credited with being the driving force behind Netflix’s pivot from delivering DVDs in red envelopes to becoming a worldwide streamer with original content.

Announcing his departure alongside Netflix’s latest results, which recorded revenue growth of 16pc to $12.3bn, Mr Hastings said: “Netflix changed my life in so many ways, and my all‑time favourite memory was January 2016, when we enabled nearly the entire planet to enjoy our service.”

Shares in Netflix fell by 9.3pc in the wake of the announcement.

The billionaire businessman said he now planned to focus on “other pursuits”, potentially including the Utah ski resort that he bought in 2023.

He previously announced plans to turn half of the mountain into a members-only ski club, with accompanying residential developments.

Mr Hastings, who has previously served on the boards of Microsoft and Facebook, is also a long-time Democrat donor. He has given more than $20m to Democratic causes in recent years, including to Joe Biden’s 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns.

However, in 2024, he told the New York Times that Mr Biden should withdraw from the race and “allow a vigorous democratic leader” to stand against Donald Trump.

Though generally viewed as a Silicon Valley liberal, he has more recently voiced support for Mr Trump’s $100,000 visa fee for foreign workers, calling it “a great solution”.

During his 24-year stint as chief executive between 1999 and 2023, Mr Hastings transformed Netflix into the most valuable entertainment company in the world, with an estimated audience approaching one billion.

He had previously boasted that he considered sleep to be the streaming platform’s biggest rival, telling an audience in Los Angeles in 2017: “We’re competing with sleep, on the margin. And so it’s a very large pool of time.”

Mr Hastings has been gradually winding down his responsibilities at Netflix over recent years. He appointed Ted Sarandos as his co-chief executive in 2020 before choosing Greg Peters to replace him in the joint leadership role in 2023.

His departure was announced alongside Netflix’s first set of results since the streaming giant backed out of a blockbuster bidding war to buy Warner Bros.

Netflix had struck an $83bn deal to buy the Hollywood studio, which is home to the Harry Potter film series and HBO TV shows, but was usurped when rival bidder Paramount tabled a knockout $111bn offer.

Netflix bosses have argued that they took a disciplined approach to the acquisition, insisting that Warner Bros was a “nice to have” at the right price.

Shares in the streaming service had risen almost 30pc since it backed out of the deal, which had not been viewed positively by investors. The company has also cashed in a $2.8bn break fee from Paramount, giving it extra firepower to fund new shows.

Netflix has also been boosted by recent price rises in the US – the second time it has increased prices in the last year.

The company, which no longer discloses subscriber numbers, has been building its cheaper, advertising-supported tier in an effort to hold on to viewers in the face of growing cost-of-living pressures.

It has also been pushing further into live sports as the streaming service seeks to generate more revenue from ads and keep audiences on its platform.

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