Conspiracy theories welcome: Microsoft has appointed Netflix CEO Reed Hastings to its board, as a director, increasing its board to 10 directors from nine. Hastings will also sit on the board’s finance committee. As Eric says, considering that MSFT leans towards big company execs this is surprising, to say the least.
More details on his appointment here.
WSJ has a Q&A with Hastings and asks about online movie service and if Netflix is late to the game: “During the Internet bubble, Blockbuster was very disciplined. Their primary competitor, Hollywood Video, bought a video sales company for $100 million—Reel.com—and then plunged another $200 million of losses into it and ultimately cratered Hollywood’s balance sheet on a business selling VHS online. It’s conventional to say, “only the paranoid survive” but that’s not true. The paranoid die because the paranoid take all threats as serious and get very distracted.”