Netflix founder Reed Hastings is giving up his CEO role

Published

3 years ago

January 19, 2023

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Netflix jumps on Q4 paid net additions, 7.66 million vs. 4.57 million expected

Netflix founder Reed Hastings is giving up his CEO role but will stay on as chairman, the company announced alongside its earnings report Thursday.

Co-CEO Ted Sarandos will remain in his position. Greg Peters, most recently chief operating officer, will assume the post of co-CEO in Hastings’ place. Peters will also join the company’s board.

“I want to thank Reed for his visionary leadership, mentorship and friendship over the last 20 years. We’ve all learned so much from his intellectual rigor, honesty and willingness to take big bets — and we look forward to working with him for many more years to come,” said Sarandos in a written statement.

Hastings co-founded Netflix in 1997. Sarandos was promoted to co-CEO alongside Hastings in July 2020, the same time that Peters was appointed to his COO role. The company did not specify whether it would backfill the role of COO.

Netflix co-founder and CEO, Reed Hastings, is in Sydney to meet with executives of other subscription streaming services, February 25, 2022.

Wolter Peeters | Fairfax Media | Getty Images

Hastings tweeted on Thursday that he plans to stay on as executive chairman “for many years to come.” He leaves the helm as the streaming giant attempts a variety of pivots to boost subscribers and rebound after its business sagged in recent quarters.

Hastings wrote in a blog post on Thursday that period of the past two and a half years “was a baptism by fire, given COVID and recent challenges within our business.”

The executive shake-up will also see Bela Bajaria, who served as the company’s global head of television, step in as chief content officer. Scott Stuber, who was previously the head of global film, will step in as chairman of Netflix Film.

The succession announcement comes alongside the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report. Netflix matched Wall Street’s revenue expectations and posted millions more subscriber adds than anticipated.

Correction: Netflix was founded in 1997. An earlier version of this story misstated the year in some instances.

Technology

Figure AI sued by whistleblower who warned that startup’s robots could ‘fracture a human skull’

Published

2 hours ago

November 21, 2025

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$Figure AI sued by whistleblower who warned that startup's robots could 'fracture a human skull'$

Startup Figure AI is developing general-purpose humanoid robots.

Figure AI

Figure AI, an Nvidia-backed developer of humanoid robots, was sued by the startup’s former head of product safety who alleged that he was wrongfully terminated after warning top executives that the company’s robots “were powerful enough to fracture a human skull.”

Robert Gruendel, a principal robotic safety engineer, is the plaintiff in the suit filed Friday in a federal court in the Northern District of California. Gruendel’s attorneys describe their client as a whistleblower who was fired in September, days after lodging his “most direct and documented safety complaints.”

The suit lands two months after Figure was valued at $39 billion in a funding round led by Parkway Venture Capital. That’s a 15-fold increase in valuation from early 2024, when the company raised a round from investors including Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and Microsoft.

In the complaint, Gruendel’s lawyers say the plaintiff warned Figure CEO Brett Adcock and Kyle Edelberg, chief engineer, about the robot’s lethal capabilities, and said one “had already carved a ¼-inch gash into a steel refrigerator door during a malfunction.”

The complaint also says Gruendel warned company leaders not to “downgrade” a “safety road map” that he had been asked to present to two prospective investors who ended up funding the company.

Gruendel worried that a “product safety plan which contributed to their decision to invest” had been “gutted” the same month Figure closed the investment round, a move that “could be interpreted as fraudulent,” the suit says.

The plaintiff’s concerns were “treated as obstacles, not obligations,” and the company cited a “vague ‘change in business direction’ as the pretext” for his termination, according to the suit.

Gruendel is seeking economic, compensatory and punitive damages and demanding a jury trial.

Figure didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did attorneys for Gruendel.

The humanoid robot market remains nascent today, with companies like Tesla and Boston Dynamics pursuing futuristic offerings, alongside Figure, while China’s Unitree Robotics is preparing for an IPO. Morgan Stanley said in a report in May that adoption is “likely to accelerate in the 2030s” and could top $5 trillion by 2050.

Read the filing here: