Netflix

Netflix, Inc. is a media company based in Los Gatos, California, founded in 1997 by American entrepreneurs Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. The service is best known for offering on-demand streaming of movies and television shows and for releasing its own original productions, many of which have been nominated for awards. Netflix, which trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol NFLX, initially gained popularity when it disrupted the Blockbuster video-rental model. The service has since challenged video streaming and cable companies, then content creators, and, as of 2025, broadcasters and movie studios.

1997–2006: Video rental

Netflix was launched in 1997 as a DVD-rental service that charged a per-rental fee. The website was initially launched in 1998 as NetFlix.com. With tens of thousands of titles available, subscribers could select movies and TV shows through the website and receive the discs by mail. In 1999, Netflix offered an online subscription service; by 2000, it included flat-fee unlimited rentals with no due dates, late fees, or shipping fees.

In 2000, the company introduced a personalized movie recommendation system, which used an algorithm to predict viewers’ movie preferences based on their previous choices. The system was enhanced after the Netflix Prize contest in 2006 challenged 40,000 contestants to improve the accuracy of movie recommendations by 10%. The $1 million prize was awarded in 2009 to BellKor’s Pragmatic Chaos, a team made up of seven mathematicians, computer scientists, and engineers from the United States, Canada, Austria, and Israel.

2007–12: Streaming

In 2007, Netflix introduced streaming services that allowed subscribers to access content directly over the Internet. Streaming quickly gained momentum, becoming unlimited for most subscription plans. Netflix partnered with makers of video game consoles, Blu-ray players, and other electronics to enable video streaming on those devices.

Netflix introduced a streaming-only plan by 2010 and that same year introduced an app for iPhones (the app became available on some Android devices by 2011). The company initiated its global expansion to Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe by 2012, reaching more than 190 countries and territories by 2016.

2013–20s: Original content

As streaming became its primary revenue generator, Netflix shifted its focus to producing original content in 2013. By 2023, Netflix boasted more than 3,600 original titles.

In 2022, Netflix said it would begin cracking down on password sharing, noting that more than 100 million households had shared their account passwords with others. The crackdown was credited with boosting subscriber rates. Netflix reported that it had added 8.8 million subscribers worldwide in the third quarter of 2023. The company also said it would raise prices on its streaming services, confident that users would be willing to pay more to access the company’s broad collection of original shows and movies, including The Crown, House of Cards, and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

2023–present: Live programming and studio ownership

In 2023, Netflix began livestreaming with its stand-up special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage. In January 2024, Netflix said it had inked a 10-year deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to stream a weekly live professional wrestling program, Monday Night Raw, beginning in 2025. In March 2024, the company said it would livestream a fight between boxers Mike Tyson and Jake Paul in July.

Award-winning original content

Notable Netflix series include:

• House of Cards (2013–18), an episodic drama series that won multiple awards, including 3 Primetime Emmy Awards in its first season
• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–19), a comedy about a woman rescued from a doomsday cult
• Narcos (2015–17), about drug trafficker Pablo Escobar and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents hunting him, one of whom was played by Pedro Pascal
• The Crown (2016–23), a drama about the British royal family that won more than 100 international awards, including 5 Critics Choice Awards, 21 Primetime Emmy Awards, 2 Golden Globes, and 7 Screen Actors Guild Awards
• Stranger Things (2016– 2025), a sci-fi drama set in the 1980s that has won more than 100 international awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award
• Money Heist (2017–21), a Spanish crime drama
• Bridgerton (2020– ), an adaptation of a romance novel series set in 19th-century London
• Squid Game (2021– ), a South Korean show centered on a bloody survival game; it has won more than 40 international awards, including a People’s Choice Award

Notable Netflix movies include:

• Roma (2018), which won three Academy Awards, including best foreign language film
• The Irishman (2019), which was nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture
• Marriage Story (2019), for which Laura Dern won an Academy Award for best supporting actress
• The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), which was nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture
• All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), which won four Academy Awards

Netflix has used a variety of marketing approaches to promote its original programming. For example, the popularity of Squid Game prompted Netflix to produce a reality competition spinoff, Squid Game: The Challenge (2023). The streaming service has produced live events commemorating its shows; for example, Bridgerton was adapted into an immersive traveling production (The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience) in 2022.

In January 2024, Netflix received 19 Oscar nominations. It won one award at the ceremony in March for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, a short film directed by Wes Anderson. Other nominated titles included May December, The After, and El Conde.

Proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery

In December 2025, Netflix agreed to acquire the studio and streaming divisions of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at about $72 billion, or roughly $82.7 billion including debt.

The proposed deal, expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, would bring Warner’s extensive film and television catalog—including HBO and HBO Max, as well as the Warner Bros. studio infrastructure—under Netflix’s control. If approved, the acquisition would mark Netflix’s first major move into studio ownership and significantly expand its role in film and television production.

Netflix’s proposal quickly drew a rival bid. Days later, Paramount Skydance (PSKY), formed four months earlier from the merger of Skydance Media and Paramount Global, launched a hostile $30-a-share cash offer for all of Warner. The proposal was backed by CEO David Ellison, his father Larry Ellison, private-equity firm RedBird Capital, and arranged financing from major banks. Warner’s board rejected the offer, calling it “illusory” and raising concerns about the credibility of the equity being offered and the structure of the Ellison family’s financial backing.

In a letter to shareholders, Warner said Paramount had “consistently misled” investors and reaffirmed that the Netflix agreement was financially and strategically superior. Paramount said its proposal wasn’t its “best and final” offer, indicating it may continue to challenge the Netflix deal as regulatory reviews and a shareholder vote, anticipated for spring or summer 2026, move forward.