Netflix founder Reed Hastings is giving up CEO role
Netflix co-founder and CEO, Reed Hastings, is in Sydney to meet with executives of other subscription streaming services, February 25, 2022. Netflix's Reed Hastings is giving up his CEO role but will remain on as chairman, the company announced along side its earnings report Thursday. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos will remain in his position. Greg Peters, most recently Chief Operating Officer, will assume the post of co-CEO in Hastings' place. "I want to thank Reed for his visionary leadership, mentorship and friendship over the last 20 years.
cnbc.comJacqueline Avant, wife of music legend, killed in shooting
Jacqueline Avant, a Los Angeles philanthropist and the wife of music legend Clarence Avant, was fatally shot in Beverly Hills, California, early Wednesday, according to authorities and a Netflix spokeswoman. Netflix spokeswoman Emily Feingold confirmed that Jacqueline Avant was killed in the shooting. Avant's daughter, Nicole, is married to Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer.
news.yahoo.comTrans activist's anti-Asian tweets resurface after Netflix walkout against Dave Chapelle special
Old tweets from a transgender activist who led the Netflix walkout following the Dave Chapelle comedy special “The Closer” have gone viral for expressing racist, anti-Asian sentiments. Background: The Netflix special drew heavy criticism for Chapelle’s allegedly transphobic comments. According to Bloomberg, employees raised concerns that several of his jokes about gender-neutral pronouns and transgender anatomy was offensive and hurtful and felt disappointed that Netflix “continues to release programming with transphobic sentiments.”
news.yahoo.comJon Stewart says Dave Chappelle Netflix controversy a result of 'miscommunication,' comic 'not a hurtful guy'
Jon Stewart is putting on his public relations cap in defense of longtime friend, comedian Dave Chappelle, who Stewart is adamant was not trying to be divisive in his latest comedy special, "The Closer."
news.yahoo.comNetflix keeping Dave Chappelle special "The Closer" up despite controversy over his remarks about trans community
A Netflix executive says his comments on the trans community in "The Closer" don't cross "the line on hate." The company denied suspending three employees over tweets about the comments.
cbsnews.comLaying out data, Netflix touts its record on inclusivity
This image released by Netflix shows Phoebe Dynevor, left, and Rege-Jean Page in a scene from "Bridgerton." Netflix films were more likely to have women directing (23.1%), writing (25.2%) or producing (29%) than the top-grossing movies of 2018 and 2019. In Netflix films and series, 31.9% of leads were from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. Latino representational lagged especially, accounting for just 4% of film leads and 1.7% of series leads. LGBTQ leads were featured in only 2.3% of Netflix films and series, though 12% of the U.S. population identifies as LGBTQ.
Netflix will spend $100 million to improve diversity on film following equity study
Netflix released a first-of-its-kind diversity study Friday to analyze the makeup of Netflix's on-screen talent, as well as the behind-the-camera creators, producers, writers and directors. The report shows that the company has made progress, but still has more work to do to close diversity gaps. Smith's team examined all of the films and series Netflix commissioned between 2018 and 2019. Netflix was also found to exceed proportional representation of Black leads and main cast. The study also found that LGBTQ+ characters were rare: just 4% of leads in film and 1% in TV series.
cnbc.comNetflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos on diversity, inclusion, $100 million talent pipeline fund
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos on diversity, inclusion, $100 million talent pipeline fund "CBS This Morning" is exclusively revealing a USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study on the diversity and inclusion of Netflix's content. Netflix Chief Content Officer and co-CEO Ted Sarandos joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss the new report and the company's talent pipeline initiative.
cbsnews.comNetflix to spend $500 million in South Korea this year to develop new content
Rafael Henrique | SOPA Images | Getty ImagesNetflix said Thursday that it will spend $500 million this year on films and series produced in South Korea to broaden its growing slate of content from the country. Netflix disclosed that as of the end of last year, the streaming service had 3.8 million paid subscribers in South Korea. Over the last two years, we've seen the world falling in love with incredible Korean content, made in Korea and watched by the world on Netflix. Besides acquiring rights to existing Korean content, Netflix has made more than 80 original shows and films locally, including the popular zombie thriller "Kingdom" from creator Kim Eun-hee. On Thursday, Netflix also announced two new original films out of South Korea.
cnbc.comNetflix shares rise on strong subscriber growth, considers share buybacks
Netflix's expectation of soon becoming free cash flow positive would bring to life the bull case for the stock. It's raised $15 billion in debt since 2011 and currently has $8.2 billion cash on hand. Free cash flow for Q4 was negative as predicted due to production restarts in some regions, but not as significant as expected. Free cash flow for full year 2020 was +$1.9 billion versus -$3.3 billion in 2019. Netflix executives spoke in depth about competing with Disney, much more so than in previous earnings interviews.
cnbc.comNetflix to expand production hub in New Mexico
The footprint of the production hub will grow with a private land purchase and a lease involving state trust land. She said the partnership with Netflix should send a signal that New Mexico is the place to be for film and television production. As part of the proposed investment, Netflix has committed to providing training programs in partnership with the New Mexico Film Office, local universities and industry organizations. Since coming to New Mexico in 2018, Netflix said it has spent more than $200 million, used more than 2,000 production vendors and hired more than 1,600 cast and crew members. Netflix is in production in New Mexico on the original films “The Harder They Fall" and “Intrusion" and is expected to soon begin filming “Stranger Things 4" in Albuquerque.
Most of Netflix's 2021 slate of TV and film won't be hindered by coronavirus
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said he's confident that the company's slate of films and television shows planned for release in 2021 will find a place on the streaming service next year. The coronavirus pandemic has hindered content production in the U.S. and globally, postponing theatrical releases and cable television premieres. Sarandos said Netflix's production is "nearly fully operational" globally, and the platform is prepared to deliver the majority of the content on its calendar next year. Sarandos said more content will likely arrive in the back half of 2021, particularly its bigger titles, due to the delays in production caused by the pandemic. The company has already completed more than 50 productions since mid-March and is set to finish another 150 more by the end of 2020.
cnbc.comNetflix loses the battle, but it's still on target to win Wall Street's war
Ted Sarandos attends the Ted Sarandos panel during Netflix 'See What's Next' event at Villa Miani on April 18, 2018 in Rome, Italy. It wasn't Netflix's finest quarter, but if you're a long-term Netflix believer, you've got reason to smile. The streaming video giant reported 300,000 fewer global net subscriber additions than it forecast. Sure, the subscriber trajectory isn't great -- from 15.8 million additions in the first quarter to 10.1 million in the second quarter to 2.2 million in the third quarter. But Netflix warned investors of this earlier this year, saying last quarter that most people who wanted Netflix for pandemic quarantines had already signed up.
cnbc.comNetflix misses on subscriber additions and EPS
The company fell short of analyst estimates on earnings per share and global paid net subscriber additions, but exceeded expectations on revenue. For the fourth quarter, Netflix forecast 6.0 million paid net adds, still well below the 8.8 million it added in the fourth quarter of 2019. It said it expects to be slightly negative on free cash flow in Q4 as production restarts. It expects free cash flow to be about $2 billion for the full year 2020, up from its previous break-even to positive estimate. For 2021, Netflix said it expects free cash flow to be -$1 billion to break-even.
cnbc.comNetflix promotes content chief to co-CEO; adds 10M new subs
NEW YORK Netflix added a flood of new subscribers amid the coronavirus pandemic and also offered clues to a possible successor for founding CEO Reed Hastings, who on Thursday named the company's chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, as co-CEO. This change makes formal what was already informal that Ted and I share the leadership of Netflix, said Hastings in a statement. The company picked up 10.1 million worldwide subscribers during the April-June period, more than triple what it usually adds in that period. The increase announced Thursday with Netflixs second-quarter earnings eclipsed the gain of 8.3 million subscribers projected among analysts polled by FactSet. Netflix ended June with 193 million worldwide subscribers, including 70 million in the U.S. and Canada, its largest geographic market.
Top execs from Netflix, Disney, Salesforce and more call on Congress to provide $1 trillion in coronavirus relief to local governments
Gavin Newsom's task force on business and jobs recovery wrote, "the worst of the economic impact [is] likely still to come." The legislation, which the House of Representatives passed Friday, includes $1 trillion in funding for cash-strapped state and local governments. "It will protect core government services like public health, public safety, public education and help people get back to work. It will protect core government services like public health, public safety, public education and help people get back to work. This funding will help our states and cities and America's economy come out of this crisis stronger and more resilient.
cnbc.comHow Netflix plans to use animation to challenge Disney Plus
Jason Schwartzman arrives at the premiere of Netflix's "Klaus" which has been nominated for an Oscar in the animated feature category that snubbed Disney's "Frozen 2." It was one of two Netflix animated films nominated in the category. "Netflix's commentary on animated films also stood out to us with Klaus recently nominated for an Oscar and Netflix building to several major animated feature films per year," J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth wrote. The increased focus on animation comes as Disney's streaming service, Disney Plus, takes off. Animation like DreamWorks and Nickelodeon episodic content is key to Netflix in providing children with shows they watch repeatedly.
cnbc.comMore than 26 million Netflix subscribers viewed 'The Irishman' in seven days, chief content officer says
More than 26 million global accounts (26,404,081, to be exact) watched at least 70% of "The Irishman" in the first seven days the film appeared on the Netflix platform, according to Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer. Netflix hopes the popularity of "The Irishman" will spur more top content makers to sign deals with the streaming giant to showcase their best creative works. "When you think about that, people understand the value proposition of a big new movie this week at Netflix," said Sarandos at the UBS conference. "It translates into how they value Netflix." The movie had a limited theatrical debut on Nov. 1 and launched on Netflix on Nov. 27.
cnbc.comWhy Jane Fonda is moving to Washington (for now)
The 81-year-old actress, activist and exercise phenom is moving to Washington for four months with a plan to get arrested. But we want to reach the people who know its a man-made problem, know it exists, but they dont know what to do. I dont know, Im not even thinking about it. I read an article about Lyndon LaRouche because he hounded me in the airports Feed Jane Fonda to the Whales, Jane Fonda Leaks More Than Three Mile Island, etc. Its been six years, but its something that I dont really understand.
latimes.com'Stranger Things' renewed for fourth season
And we're hoping they'll all be answered in the fourth season of Netflix's hit series "Stranger Things." The streaming service announced the show's return Monday, saying the Duffer Brothers, the creators of the series, have also signed on "to a multi-year film and series overall deal." "We can't wait to see what the Duffer Brothers have in store when they step outside the world of The Upside Down." On the show's fourth season, the only clue the video announcement offers is this: "We are no longer in Hawkins." "Stranger Things" has earned 30 Emmy nominations and won six Emmys.
Netflix is reportedly getting more disciplined about big-budget projects
Netflix is tightening its wallet when it comes to big-budget projects with a narrow appeal, according to a new report from The Information. Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos reportedly told some Netflix executives last month that their spending needs to be more cost-effective in terms of the viewership for a show. In the past, Netflix has let chatter around a big project help justify its spending, even if viewership was not equally massive. Netflix has been spending big for original content. In April, Netflix announced that it would offer about $2 billion in debt to fuel its content spend and other expenses.
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