Netflix CEO Reed Hastings fortunes continue to rise as a new SEC filing reports the streaming service’s co-founder received a total of $38 million in 2019.
Hasting’s total pay package last year was up 16 per cent from what he was paid in 2018, reports Netflix in its annual proxy statement Wednesday.
Hastings’ most recent package includes $37.4 million in options awards that were added on top of his base salary of $700,000.
Netflix cofounder and CEO Reed Hastings received a total of $38 million in 2019, according to a new SEC filing. He is pictured as he inaugurates the new offices of Netflix France, in Paris earlier this year
Hasting’s total pay package last year was up 16 per cent from what he was paid in 2018, reports Netflix in its annual proxy statement Wednesday. Pictured are Netflix offices in Hollywood, California, this week
Options, which typically include shares of stock, kick for executives when a company reaches certain performance benchmarks.
Hastings’ base has gone unchanged for two years.
Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, received a total of $34.67 million in 2019, up about 17 per cent from the year before, including options, reported the Los Gatos, California,-based company.
Netflix, meanwhile, has seen a spike in subscribers for the service after lockdown orders were issued because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The company added 16 million new customers from January to March and now has 183 million subscribers worldwide.
As the Netflix numbers have gone up, there have been 827,093 confirmed cases in the US of the coronavirus, which has been blamed for 45,435 deaths.
Hastings, 59, started Netflix in 1997 with colleague Marc Randolph, by offering DVD rentals by mail.
It grew rapidly as the internet expanded and Hastings became the unchallenged boss when Randolph left in 1999.
It was when Netflix began producing its own content, however, that it truly became a force to be reckoned with.
For seven years, now, Netflix has taken on the big production houses – and even Hollywood – by creating its own films and TV series with quite astonishing success.
For seven years, now, Netflix has taken on the big production houses – and even Hollywood – by creating its own films and TV series with quite astonishing success. Pictured is the company’s recent hit documentary show, Tiger King
Hastings certainly enjoys the fruits of his labour, sharing his vast home with his wife of 30 years, Patty Ann Quillin, and their two adult children, musician Molly and Sean.
Together, they lead a lifestyle that seems an unusual blend of high-tech luxury and pastoral charm.
They own two private jets. The Santa Cruz mansion boasts an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a 12-person Jacuzzi. A home theatre – for Netflix binges, no doubt – has cutting edge Dolby Atmos surround sound, a system more advanced than most US cinemas.
The vast garage can house 12 cars; the driveway has space for a further 15.
Hastings was born in Boston, Massachusetts, attended Bowdoin College, and after considering serving in the armed forces as a Marine, joined the Peace Corps instead. He then got a masters in computer science from Standford University in 1988.
Before Netflix, he founded Pure Software, a software troubleshooting company in 1991. He later left the company after an acquisition to start Netflix.