Netflix history

Founded in 1998 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph, the history of Netflix founding must be situated amidst the dot com bubble.

In 1998, Randolph and Hastings met with Jeff Bezos, where Amazon.com offered to acquire Netflix for between $14 and $16 million.

Initially, Netflix offered a per-rental model for each DVD, but introduced a monthly subscription concept in September 1999.

At first customers were allowed to rent each DVD for a seven-day period, but by December 1999 subscribers could pay a set monthly fee to rent an unlimited number of DVDs.

1999: Sales are halted; Group Arnault invests $30 million in the firm and a subscription plan debuts.

In 1999 Netflix began offering an online subscription service through the Internet.

In September 2000, during the dot-com bubble, while Netflix was suffering losses, Hastings and Randolph offered to sell the company to Blockbuster LLC for $50 million.

"In 2000, Netflix CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings approached Blockbuster about a partnership.

At first, Netflix would pack the DVDs in white envelopes, and it wasn't until 2000 that Netflix changed them to yellow envelopes.

VdoCipher helps over 2000+ customers over 40+ countries to host their OTT videos securely, helping them to boost their video revenues.

Sarandos joined in 2000, and had prior experience in movie and television distribution.

The per-rental model was dropped by early 2000, allowing the company to focus on the business model of flat-fee unlimited rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping and handling fees, or per-title rental fees.

DVD players were a popular gift for holiday sales in late 2001, and demand for DVD subscription services were "growing like crazy", according to chief talent officer Patty McCord.

Netflix makes its initial public offering (IPO) of 5,500,000 shares at $15.00 per share on Nasdaq under the ticker “NFLX.” Total Netflix members at the time: 600,000 – May 22, 2002

The company became a public company on May 29, 2002, selling 5.5 million shares of common stock at US$15.00 per share.

2003: Subscribers top 1,000,000, and Netflix has its first profitable quarter.

He also served on the Netflix board of directors until retiring from the company in 2003." - marcrandolph.com.

Co-founder Marc Randolph steps down as a member of the board and leaves Netflix in 2003.

In 2004, Blockbuster introduced a DVD rental service, which not only allowed users to check out titles through online sites, but allowed for them to return them at brick-and-mortar stores.

By 2005, Netflix had acquired movie rights and designed the box and service.

Netflix ends the year with 7.5 million members, up 18 percent over 2006.

In late 2006, Red Envelope Entertainment also expanded into producing original content with filmmakers such as John Waters.

In February 2007, Netflix delivered its billionth DVD, a copy of Babel to a customer in Texas.

By the end of 2007, Netflix had 7.5 million registered subscribers -- up almost 20% on the previous year.

In 2007 Netflix began offering subscribers the option to stream some of its movies and television shows directly to their homes through the Internet.

2007: Netflix begins streaming content, delivering directly to TVs, computers, and tablets through its Watch Now service.

The history of Netflix saw a major change when in 2008 it agreed a deal with Cable TV channel Starz to broadcast their content library for $30 million annually.

Netflix closed Red Envelope Entertainment in 2008, in part to avoid competition with its studio partners.

In 2009, Netflix streams overtook DVD shipments.

In August 2010, Netflix reached a five-year deal worth nearly $1 billion to stream films from Paramount, Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In November 2010, Netflix began offering a standalone streaming service separate from DVD rentals.

In fact, Blockbuster could ultimately not compete with the move to online streaming and rentals and filed for bankruptcy in 2010.

2010: Netflix changes its focus to streaming and introduces it to the United States.

Barry McCarthy, CFO of Netflix from inception till 2010, spoke to the Unofficial Stanford Blog on Reed Hasting’s idea of the subscriber-based model in an industry where video rentals were centered around retail stores:

In 2010, Netflix acquired the rights to Breaking Bad, produced by Sony Pictures Television, after the show's third season, at a point where original broadcaster AMC had expressed the possibility of cancelling the show.

In May 2011, Netflix's streaming business became the largest source of Internet streaming traffic in North America, accounting for 30% of traffic during peak hours.

In May 2011, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes welcomed Netflix's ability to monetize older content that was previously not generating money for media companies.

In September 2011, Netflix announced a content deal with DreamWorks Animation.

In September 2011, Netflix expanded to 43 countries in Latin America.

However, on October 10, 2011, in a reversal, Netflix announced that it would retain its DVD service under the name Netflix and would not, in fact, create Qwikster for that purpose.

In November 2011, Netflix picked up two eight-episode seasons of Lilyhammer and a fourth season of the ex-Fox sitcom Arrested Development.

However, by December 2011, the damage was done, and Netflix stock had dropped 75% from its peak.

In 2011 Starz stopped its content licensing deal with Netflix, even after Netflix offers $300 million for licensing Starz’s library.

In 2011, in a move aimed at generating revenues for further investment into their video catalog, Netflix made major changes to their business model.

In June 2012, Netflix signed a deal with Open Road Films.

In July 2012, Netflix hired Kelly Bennett, former Warner Bros.

On September 1, 2011, Starz ceased renewal talks with Netflix. As a result, Starz's library of films and series were removed from Netflix on February 28, 2012.

On October 18, 2012, Netflix launched in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Animation, and Adult Swim content, as well as TNT's Dallas, beginning in March 2013.

On August 1, 2013, Netflix reintroduced the "Profiles" feature that permits accounts to accommodate up to five user profiles.

In September 2013, Netflix launched in the Netherlands and was then available in 40 countries.

2012: Netflix starts making original shows. Its first show is Lilyhammer, followed by House of Cards in 2013.

On March 7, 2014, new Star Wars content was released on Netflix's streaming service: the sixth season of the television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as well as all five prior and the feature film.

In April 2014, Netflix signed Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz and his production firm The Hurwitz Company to a multi-year deal to create original projects for the service.

In May 2014, Netflix acquired streaming rights to films produced by Sony Pictures Animation.

In October 2014, Netflix announced a four-film deal with Adam Sandler and his Happy Madison Productions.

In 2014, Netflix launched in 6 new countries in Europe (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Switzerland), and won 7 Creative Emmy Awards.

On March 20, 2015, Bloodline was released.

In September 2015, Netflix launched in Japan, its first country in Asia.

Other comedy shows premiering in 2015 included Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Grace and Frankie, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, and W/ Bob & David.

Since 2015, Netflix had received significant technical support from France's CNRS concerning video compression and formating, through CNRS' Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes (LS2N).

In January 2016, at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, Netflix announced a major international expansion of its service into 130 additional countries.

Also in January 2016, Netflix announced it would begin VPN blocking since they can be used to watch videos from a country where they are unavailable.

In March 2016, Netflix introduced Netflix Party, whereby people can watch Netflix's programs together.

In April 2016, Netflix announced it would be ending a loyalty rate in certain countries for subscribers who were continuously subscribed before price rises, raising their price to $9.99 per month.

In May 2016, Netflix created a tool called Fast.com to determine the speed of an Internet connection.

In 2016, Netflix announced plans to expand its in-house production division and produced TV series including The Ranch and Chelsea.

In February 2017, Netflix announced 1,000 hours of original content to be released in 2017.

As of July 2017, Netflix series and movies accounted for more than a third of all prime-time download Internet traffic in North America.

On August 7, 2017, in the first acquisition of an entire company, Netflix acquired Millarworld, the creator-owned publishing company of comic book writer Mark Millar.

On August 14, 2017, Netflix announced that it had entered into an exclusive development deal with Shonda Rhimes and her production company Shondaland.

In September 2017, Netflix announced it would offer its low-broadband mobile technology to airlines to provide better in-flight Wi-Fi so that passengers can watch movies on Netflix while on planes.

In October 2017, Netflix introduced the "Skip Intro" feature which allows customers to skip the intros to shows on its platform.

In December 2017, Netflix signed Stranger Things director-producer Shawn Levy and his production company 21 Laps Entertainment to what sources say is a four-year, seven-figure deal.

In May 2018, chief content officer Ted Sarandos stated that Netflix had increased its spending on original content.

In June 2018, Netflix announced a partnership with Telltale Games to port its adventure games to the service in a streaming video format, allowing simple controls through a television remote.

In July 2018, Netflix acquired Lisa Taback's LT-LA consulting firm.

On August 16, 2018, Netflix announced a three-year deal with black-ish creator Kenya Barris.

On August 27, 2018, the company signed a five-year exclusive overall deal with international best–selling author Harlan Coben.

In September 2018, Telltale underwent a "majority studio closure" and laid off nearly its entire staff beyond a skeleton crew of 25 employees, citing a loss of funding.

It also produced numerous movies—notably Roma (2018), which won three Academy Awards, including best foreign language film.

In February 2019, The Haunting creator Mike Flanagan joined frequent collaborator Trevor Macy as a partner in Intrepid Pictures and the duo signed an exclusive overall deal with Netflix to produce television content.

On May 9, 2019, Netflix contracted with Dark Horse Entertainment to make television series and films based on comics from Dark Horse Comics.

Also on May 9, 2019, Netflix acquired the StoryBots children's media franchise to expand its educational content.

In July 2019, Netflix announced that it would be opening a hub at Shepperton Studios as part of a deal with Pinewood Group.

In early August 2019, Netflix negotiated an exclusive multi-year film and television deal with Game of Thrones creators/showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss reportedly worth US$200 million.

2019 also sees the release of "Inside Bill's Brain", a three-part documentary covering the life and times of the man behind Microsoft.

Disney, AT&T, and Apple all launch their own Netflix alternatives in 2019.

In 2019, Ted Sarandos had a higher salary than CEO Reed Hastings and key company decisions were being made in Los Angeles where Sarandos kept his office.

In January 2020, Netflix announced a new four-film deal with Adam Sandler worth up to $275 million.

In January 2020, Gwyneth Paltrow's series The Goop Lab was added as a Netflix Original.

On January 24, 2020, Gloria Sanchez Productions entered a multi-year non-exclusive First-look deal with Netflix, and also entered a feature multi-year deal with Paramount Pictures.

On March 4, 2020, ViacomCBS announced that it will be producing two spin-off films based on SpongeBob SquarePants for Netflix.

On April 7, 2020, Peter Chernin's Chernin Entertainment made a multi-year first-look deal with Netflix to make films.

On May 29, 2020, Netflix announced the acquisition of Grauman's Egyptian Theatre from the American Cinematheque to use as a special events venue.

In June 2020, the South African government announced its intention to impose local content requirements on Netflix, including a requirement of having 30% local content.

Netflix currently has a Market Cap of [$209.74B] (July 2020) and a share price of $476.89, while Blockbuster is out of business." - rewindandcapture.com.

In July 2020, Netflix appointed Sarandos as co-CEO.

In July 2020, Netflix invested in Black Mirror creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones’ new production outfit Broke And Bones.

In September 2020, Hastings released a book on Netflix titled No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention, which was co-authored by Erin Meyer.

In October 2020, Netflix announced a restructuring of executive management in its entertainment division.

In December 2020, Netflix signed a first-look deal with Millie Bobby Brown to develop and star in several projects including a potential action franchise.

Higher Ground's first film, American Factory, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2020.

On June 17, 2021, Netflix announced a multi-year overall deal with comedy writer-producer Danielle Sanchez-Witzel.

On July 14, 2021, Netflix signed a first-look deal with Joey King, star of The Kissing Booth franchise, in which King will produce and develop films for Netflix via her All The King's Horses production company.

The company announced that "TUDUM: A Netflix Global Fan Event", a three-hour virtual behind the scenes featuring first-look reveals for 70 of the streamer's properties, would have its inaugural show in late September 2021.

On September 20, 2021, Netflix signed a long-term lease deal with Aviva Investors to operate and expand the Longcross Studios in Surrey, UK.

Through October 2021, Netflix commonly reported viewership for its programming based on the number of viewers or households that watched a show in a given period (such as the first 28 days from its premiere) for at least two minutes.

On November 16, 2021, Netflix announced the launch of "Top10 on Netflix", a new website with weekly global and country lists of the most popular titles on their service based on their new viewership metrics.

On November 22, 2021, Netflix announced that it would acquire Scanline VFX, the visual effects and animation company behind Cowboy Bebop and Stranger Things.

On December 6, 2021, Netflix and Stage 32 announced that they have teamed up the workshops at the Creating Content for the Global Marketplace program.