Reed Hastings On Netflix Overhaul, YouTube Rivalry And How It Can Resume “Being Thrilling”

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings ended his three-decade association with the company he co-founded last June, but he has a lot to say about how the company can get back to “being thrilling.” The exec said he “read about” Netflix laying off 1,000 workers, about 6% of its staff, but did not know in advance about this month’s cutbacks. “It’s hard because I’d like to be in the fray helping,” he said in an appearance on the podcast On with Kara Swisher . “Those are traumatic moments, saying goodbye to some people and getting other people to focus on, ‘OK, we really need to take up our creative excellence and just to be supportive.’ But they’re very competent people. They’ll figure it out. So I’m not worried about it.” Along with the staff cuts, Netflix also overhauled its executive ranks, replacing content chief Bela Bajaria with Peter Rice and ousting film head Dan Lin. Amid the overhaul, Swisher asked if the company’s new leaders should significantly retool the company’s approach to programming given the recent slowdown in viewership growth. Watch on Deadline “I think the strategy is doing more and better television shows, more and better movies,” he replied with characteristic
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