Reed Hastings facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Reed Hastings
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Hastings in 2015
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| Born |
Wilmot Reed Hastings Jr.
October 8, 1960 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
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| Education | Bowdoin College (BA) Stanford University (MS) |
| Known for | Co-founding of Netflix, Inc. |
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| Spouse(s) |
Patricia Ann Quillin
(m. 1991) |
| Children | 2 |
Wilmot Reed Hastings Jr. (born October 8, 1960) is an American businessman. He is best known as the co-founder and chairman of Netflix, Inc., the company behind the popular Netflix streaming service. Hastings also works with many non-profit organizations and supports charter schools. He was once the president of the California State Board of Education.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Reed Hastings was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His father worked for the government, and his mother taught him to dislike fancy social events.
School Days
Hastings went to Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Before college, he took a year off and sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door. In 1983, he earned a degree in mathematics from Bowdoin College. He really enjoyed his time at Bowdoin.
Peace Corps Adventure
After college, Hastings joined the Peace Corps. From 1983 to 1985, he taught math at a high school in rural Swaziland (now Eswatini). He says this experience helped him become an entrepreneur. He learned that if you can travel across Africa with little money, starting a business doesn't seem so scary.
College and Computer Science
After the Peace Corps, Hastings studied at Stanford University. He graduated in 1988 with a master's degree in Computer Science.
Building Businesses
Pure Software: His First Company
Hastings' first job was at a company called Adaptive Technology. There, he created a tool to fix problems in computer programs. In 1991, he started his own company, Pure Software. This company made tools to help find and fix bugs in software.
Growing Pure Software was tough for Hastings. He didn't have much experience managing a fast-growing company. He even asked his board to replace him because he was losing confidence. In 1996, Pure Software merged with another company called Atria Software. The combined company was later bought by Rational Software in 1997. Hastings left soon after this acquisition.
How Netflix Started
In 1997, Hastings and a former Pure Software employee, Marc Randolph, started Netflix. Their idea was to rent movies by mail using DVDs. DVDs were easier to send than old VHS tapes. Customers could order movies from a website instead of a paper catalog.
Hastings got the idea for Netflix after he had a big late fee for a movie. He owed $40 for a movie that was six weeks late. He realized that a gym membership model, where you pay a flat fee and can work out as much as you want, was a better idea. He thought, "Why not do that for movies?"
Netflix started by mailing DVDs, but Hastings believed Internet television was the future. He was inspired by YouTube. In 2007, Netflix launched its streaming service, allowing people to watch movies and TV shows on their computers. Today, Netflix has millions of subscribers worldwide.
Netflix's Unique Culture
As Netflix grew, it became known for its special way of managing employees. This was called "Freedom and Responsibility." Netflix encourages employees to manage their own time off, without strict rules for sick days or vacation. Hastings created a guide about Netflix's culture. He posted it online in 2009. This guide helped people understand if they would be a good fit for the company before they even applied.
In 2020, Hastings and Erin Meyer wrote a book about Netflix's culture called No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention. It became a bestseller.
Other Business Ventures
Hastings has served on the boards of other big companies. He was on the board of Microsoft from 2007 to 2012. He also served on the board of directors for Facebook, Inc. from 2011 to 2019.
In 2023, Hastings invested $100 million in the Powder Mountain ski resort in Utah. He became the majority owner. He plans to turn half of the mountain into a members-only ski club. In 2023, he also joined the board of directors for Bloomberg L.P.. In 2025, he was added to the board of Anthropic, a company focused on artificial intelligence.
Helping Others and Education
Supporting Education
After selling Pure Software, Hastings became very interested in improving education in California. In 2000, he was appointed to the California State Board of Education. He even became its president in 2001. He spent his own money to help pass a measure that made it easier for local schools to get funding for construction.
Hastings is a strong supporter of charter schools. These are public schools that are run privately. In 2006, he donated $1 million to help open new charter schools.
As a member of the Giving Pledge since 2012, Hastings promised to give away most of his wealth to charity. He created the Hastings Fund and pledged $100 million for children's education. The fund has given money for college scholarships for Black and Latino students.
Helping HBCUs
In June 2020, Hastings made a huge donation of $120 million. This money was split equally among the United Negro College Fund, Morehouse College, and Spelman College. This was the largest individual donation ever to support scholarships at HBCUs.
Bowdoin College Donations
In March 2025, Bowdoin College, Hastings' old school, announced that he had given them $50 million. This gift created the Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity. It is the largest donation in the school's history.
Other Philanthropy
In 2016, Hastings set up a special fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation with $100 million. In 2024, he gave the foundation Netflix shares worth $1.1 billion.
In 2020, Hastings and his wife donated $30 million to GAVI to help with the COVID-19 vaccines initiative called COVAX.
Politics
Hastings has also been involved in politics. He has donated to various political campaigns and causes. For example, he supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election. In 2021, he gave $3 million to help defeat the campaign to recall Gavin Newsom as governor of California.
In July 2024, Hastings publicly asked Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 US presidential election. Later that month, he supported Kamala Harris for president and made a large donation to a group supporting her campaign. In March 2025, Hastings donated $2 million to support Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Personal Life
Reed Hastings lives in Santa Cruz, California. He is married to Patricia Ann Quillin, and they have two children.
See also
In Spanish: Reed Hastings para niños
