Comments on: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: ‘I Messed Up’

By: Mark Maynard

Mark Maynard — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:12:12 +0000

I just wanted to know why someone would raise prices the way hastings did when the country is almost bankrupt. and now not only has the company lost big money he himself lost $1.5 million in stock options. the only answer that I can think of is GREED.

By: Craig Smalin

Craig Smalin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:14:34 +0000

Reed made a calculated bet that he could force people to pay more. He got caught. He is only sorry his move failed. He figured some people would quit but ultimately he would make more money. Not a good guy. Not a sincere apology at all.

By: TomW

TomW — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:28:29 +0000

This is classic strategic execution. Cash cow placed into one business, growth engine placed into another. Makes sense, although likely will result in some loss of DVD subs in the short term. I think its bold and gutsy to change a successful business of this magnitude. What’s not so clear is the degree to which they can use the scale of both business to cut new content deals.

By: Rae Gun

Rae Gun — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:52:59 +0000

honestly this just makes me more mad. If I wanted to sign up for two different services to maintain I would have that was one of the draws of netflix. We decided to just deal with the price doubling (as obnoxious as that was) and now we have to have two different accounts with everything YUCK. To be honest I was really shocked when the prices went up without us have to sign anything or relog in and click a button that said we agree that’s totally scary luckily I knew what was going on but really there’s so much spam email that I expected to have to agree to the new terms. And then this really, does not make me feel any better.

By: Aaron B. A. Hinklin

Aaron B. A. Hinklin — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:39:57 +0000

Has Reed Hastings become Francisco d’Anconia, or is he just stopped thinking? The DVD business seems to be the primary option for DVD rentals right now other than Redbox and a few remaining Blockbusters. The name change and having to create a separate account should cost Netflix, er Qwikster, another million subs. You do have to give him credit for not settling into stifled big company thinking and his ability to take risks. I hope he proves me wrong.

By: David Perrotta

David Perrotta — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:03:19 +0000

The humility and sincerity are nice, but the actual decision to separate DVD and streaming into two separate websites with two separate accounts seems like it will inevitably frustrate the many users who want to use BOTH services and who appreciate the way the two are integrated on the current Netflix site. Now we’ll all have to toggle between two websites just to manage what movies we want to watch? More sophisticated integration makes more sense to me than separation.