After 25 years of leading the streaming giant Netflix, co-CEO Reed Hastings has stepped down and will be replaced by former COO Greg Peters. In the fourth quarter of 2022, Netflix reported that it had 230.75 million subscribers, an increase of 7.66 million from the third quarter, and revenue of $7.85 billion, roughly 1.2 % more than the same period last year. The company had faced subscriber losses in the first quarter of 2022 that it attributed, in part, to households sharing accounts and passwords with one another, and it launched test programs in some countries to combat the issue. Netflix also released a cheaper, ad-supported tier in November to boost its subscriber base.
Despite these challenges, Netflix shows released in 2022 saw record viewership, with five of the top 10 most viewed English-language shows in their first month on Netflix being from last year. After-hours trading following the announcement of Hastings’ departure saw an increase of nearly 5% in Netflix shares, though shares have dropped 37% over the past year, more than the 23% decline of the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Hastings will remain on as executive chairman for “many years to come” and will focus on Netflix’s stock, as well as spending more time on philanthropy.