In what year was Netflix founded?

Netflix was founded in 1997.

Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings founded the company on August 29, 1997, in Scotts Valley, California. Their original business was not a streaming platform: Netflix began as a DVD rental service delivered by mail, created during the era when physical discs were challenging Blockbuster’s video-store model.

The company launched its website on April 14, 1998, with about 925 titles available for rent. It introduced a monthly subscription model in September 1999, then moved away from per-rental pricing. Netflix’s streaming service arrived much later, in January 2007, transforming the company into a global entertainment platform.

A common mix-up is answering 1998 because that was the year the website and DVD rental operation launched. Another is choosing 2007, the year streaming began. The question asks when Netflix was founded, so 1997 is the correct year; its founding date is specifically August 29.