Which CEO led Netflix from 1998 to 2023?

Reed Hastings is the Netflix co-founder who led the company as CEO until 2023.

Hastings co-founded Netflix with Marc Randolph in 1997. The company initially rented DVDs by mail through a website, offering an alternative to traditional video-store late fees and eventually introducing a subscription model. Hastings became CEO in 1999 and remained in that role until 2023.

Netflix’s transformation from a DVD-rental service into a global streaming and entertainment company took place largely under Hastings’s leadership. The company launched streaming in 2007, began producing original content later in the 2010s, and expanded internationally. In 2023, Hastings stepped down as CEO and became executive chairman; Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters then led the company as co-CEOs.

The date in the question is commonly simplified: Hastings co-founded Netflix in 1997, became CEO in 1999, and led it through 2023—not from 1998. Marc Randolph was a co-founder but not Netflix’s long-serving CEO, while Ted Sarandos became a co-CEO only in 2020.