Reed Hastings
Reed Hastings

Hats off to Reed Hastings… The Netflix founder plans to step down from the board at the streaming giant’s annual meeting in June.

He will be remembered as the genius behind the DVD-by-mail concept that took down the giant Blockbuster video chain and brought Hollywood into the homes of millions.

Netflix shipped its first DVD (“Beetlejuice") in 1998 and wrapped up the mail service in 2023. During that span, it shipped 5.2B disks and at its peak was the Post Office’s fifth-largest customer.

Though the Post Office didn’t set up special boxes for Netflix’s red envelopes, it did install special sorting machines to handle them.

Hastings transitioned Netflix into the world of streaming, in which it currently has more than 325M global customers.

He relinquished CEO duties in 2023 to become executive chair. Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos serve as co-CEOs.

Sarandos thanked Hastings for creating “a selfless, disciplined leadership style that will continue to shape how we lead Netflix in the exciting times ahead.”

Peters called Hastings Netflix’s biggest champion and part of its DNA. "His vision, entrepreneurship, and steadfast commitment to our values have shaped every stage of our journey and continue to shape how Ted and I lead Netflix today.”

Upon leaving Netflix, Hastings plans to focus on his philanthropic efforts.

Netflix shares dropped nine percent on April 16 following the release of weaker-than-anticipated Q2 guidance and news of Hasting’s departure.

The company will miss him.

Revenge tour rolls on. In the aftermath of the PR dust-up with Pope Leo, vengeful Team Trump has yanked an $11M contract with Catholic Charities in Florida.

The pact to house migrant children who have entered the US alone dates back to the arrivals of Cuban exiles in South Florida, according to a report in the Miami Herald.

Besides criticizing Trump’s war in Iran, Pope Leo has opposed the president’s harsh immigration crackdown.

Miami archbishop Thomas Wenski wrote to the Herald’s editorial board that the US government “has abruptly decided to end more than 60 years of relationship with Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Miami.”

He said though the program has served as a model for other agencies across the US, it “has been stripped of funding and will be forced to shut down within three months.”

It currently serves about 1,900 children who are the latest victims of Trump’s revenge tour.

Crusader Pete Slays Journos. Will somebody please tell Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to lay off the biblical stuff for a while? Or least until the world has moved on from his boss’ depiction of himself as Jesus.

In his latest round of bashing the media, Hegseth on April 16 compared reporters to the Pharisees who opposed Jesus.

In his press conference, Hegseth said his minister last Sunday preached about the time Jesus healed a man who had a withered hand.

“The Pharisees came to watch, and as the Scripture reads, they came to see whether He, Jesus, would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. You see, the Pharisees, the so-called elites of their time, were there to witness, to write everything down, to report. But their hearts were hardened,” Hegseth said.

“Even though they witnessed a literal miracle, it didn’t matter. They were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda,” said Hegseth. “I sat there in church, and I thought, ‘These press are just like these Pharisees.’ Not all of you, but the legacy, Trump-hating press.”

When is fire and brimstone Hegseth going to get around to the “love thy neighbor” part of the Bible?