Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph co-founded Netflix in 1997.
The company was established in Scotts Valley, California, initially as a DVD-rental business operating through the mail. Its website launched in 1998, offering customers a larger selection than many video stores and eliminating the need to visit a shop for every rental.
Netflix introduced a subscription model in 1999 and later developed a DVD recommendation system and a service that allowed subscribers to keep multiple discs without traditional late fees. These changes helped differentiate it from established rental chains.
Netflix began streaming video in 2007, years after its DVD operation started. Hastings remained associated with the company for decades, while Randolph served as its first chief executive and later left day-to-day operations. The company’s name and founding are often mistakenly linked only to streaming, but its original business was mailed DVDs.