The American streaming giant Netflix reported on Thursday that it had more than 230 million subscribers worldwide at the end of last year, above experts’ projections as popular shows like “Wednesday” and “Harry & Meghan” attracted new viewers.
“2022 was a tough year, with a bumpy start but a brighter finish,” the company said in a letter announcing bumper fourth-quarter earnings.
In addition, Netflix revealed that co-founder Reed Hastings would step down from his position as CEO after 25 years, overseeing the company’s transformation from a DVD rental service to an entertainment behemoth.
Ted Sarandos, who has been the face of Netflix in Hollywood and was already appointed co-CEO, and Greg Peters, the company’s chief operating officer, were given leadership of Netflix by Hastings.
“It feels like yesterday was our IPO; we were covered in red envelopes,” Hastings said during an earnings call.
“Hopefully, some of you have held the stock for all 21 years.”
Early in 2002, Netflix went public, with shares initially trading for $15 each.
After the presentation of the earnings results, shares of the streaming television service increased by about 7% to $337.31.
Hastings noted in a blog post that the Netflix board has been talking about succession planning for many years, joking that “even founders need to evolve!”
He said that he will take the newly created position of executive chairman and noted that founders of tech giants frequently assumed this role, citing Bill Gates of Microsoft and Jeff Bezos of Amazon as examples.
The announcement of the change of guard coincided with Netflix reporting increased subscribers that far above even the most optimistic predictions.
The streaming behemoth claimed to have attracted 7.7 million new subscribers in just three months, raising the total number of Netflix subscribers worldwide to 230 million.
The “Addams Family” spinoff “Wednesday” was part of a successful slate of new programming that Netflix recognized as being the third most watched show in the company’s history.
According to Netflix, “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” starring Daniel Craig and the royal tell-all documentary “Harry & Meghan” both performed well.
“This is in stark contrast to the first half of the year. Creating the next biggest blockbuster drives subscribers,” said tech and media analyst Paolo Pescatore.
