Netflix (NFLX -2.29%) is an on-demand subscription streaming service that's become a household name The company was launched in 2007, but its origins go back to 1997 as a DVD-by-mail movie rental service. Co-founder Reed Hastings has been quoted as saying the catalyst to to start the mail-based rental business was being fined by then-premier movie rental business Blockbuster for being late to return a film.
The company is one of the most popular global and U.S. streaming services, with a domestic market share of 22% as of mid-2024, neck-and-neck with Amazon (AMZN 0.57%) Prime services.
While the COVID-19 pandemic spurred a surge in growth for Netflix with millions staying at home for months, the subsequent rampant inflation and changes in consumer spending hit the streaming giant hard.
But Netflix looks to be steadily getting back on track. As of early 2024, Netflix had about 270 million paid members worldwide, a 16% increase from the same period the prior year. The company also generated revenue of $9.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024, up 15% from the prior-year period, with profits soaring almost 80% to $2.3 billion.
Netflix recorded revenue of $33.7 billion and net income of $5.4 billion in 2023, a respective increase of 7% and 20% from 2022. It introduced a cheaper, ad-supported tier at the end of 2022 and gained 40 million subscribers globally by early 2024.
As a publicly traded company, anyone can become a part owner of Netflix and share in the streaming giant's growth story. Here's what you need to know about who owns Netflix, its board of directors, and how to become a shareholder and invest in Netflix.
Shareholder
Overview
Who owns Netflix?
Netflix completed its initial public offering (IPO) on May 23, 2002, at a price of $15 per share. Thousands of individuals and institutional investors own Netflix stock.
Institutional investors hold the majority of Netflix shares. As of mid-2024, 85.24% of Netflix stock was held by institutional investors.
Largest shareholders
Who are the largest shareholders?
The majority of Netflix shares are held by a group of well-known institutions. However, individual investors also retain a notable slice of the business. Here are the top five individuals and institutions that control shares of Netflix.
Individuals
- Reed Hastings Owns 5,426,708 shares, representing a stake of 1.25%. He has served as executive chairman of Netflix since 2023 after 25 years as CEO. He co-founded Netflix in 1997 and Pure Software in 1991, which made tools for software developers.
- Ted Sarandos Owns 673,889 shares, representing a stake of fewer than 1% of shares. Sarandos has served as co-CEO of Netflix since July 2020. He has also led content operations since 2000 and spearheaded the company's move into original content production more than a decade ago.
- Jay C. Hoag: Owns 555,345 shares, representing an ownership stake of less than 1% of outstanding shares. Hoag has served as one of Netflix's directors since 1999. He has been a founding general partner at Technology Crossover Ventures, a venture capital firm, since 1995. Hoag serves on the board of directors of Zillow Group, Inc. (Z -4.63%), TripAdvisor, Inc. (TRIP -3.26%), and Peloton Interactive, Inc. (PTON -3.94%).
- Greg Peters: Owns 364,912 shares, an ownership stake of fewer than 1% of outstanding shares. Peters has served as co-CEO of Netflix with Sarandos since January 2023. His previous roles at Netflix have included chief operating officer, chief product officer, and international development officer. Before joining Netflix in 2008, he worked as senior vice president of consumer electronics products for Macrovision Solutions Corp. (later renamed to Rovi Corporation, then TiVo Corporation) and held various positions at Mediabolic Inc., Red Hat Network, and Wine.com.
- David Hyman: He owns 244,781 shares, an ownership stake of fewer than 1% of outstanding shares. Hyman has been Netflix's chief legal officer since 2002. Before joining Netflix, he was general counsel and senior corporate counsel of online internet retailer Webvan.
Institutional investors
- Vanguard Group: A top global investment advisor, Vanguard Group has approximately $7.7 trillion in global assets under management. It is the largest provider of mutual funds and the second-largest provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The company owns 36.6 million shares of Netflix, representing a stake of 8.5%.
- BlackRock (BLK -2.08%): The investment company was founded in 1988 and is the world's largest asset manager with $10 trillion in assets under management. The company owns 31.38 million shares of Netflix, representing an equity stake of 7.3% of outstanding shares.
- FMR, LLC: Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC is part of Fidelity Investments. Fidelity has approximately $5 trillion in assets under management. The company owns 21.01 million shares of Netflix, representing a 4.9% stake.
- State Street Corporation (STT -1.51%): The company is a global financial services and bank holding giant. It has $4.1 trillion in assets under management. The company owns approximately 16.5 million shares of Netflix, representing an equity stake of roughly 3.8% of outstanding shares.
- T. Rowe Price Group (TROW -1.53%): The global investment firm was founded in 1937 and is based in Baltimore, Maryland. It controls approximately $1.5 trillion in assets and owns approximately 11.71 million shares of Netflix, an equity stake of 2.7%.
Board of directors
Who is on the board of directors for Netflix?
Netflix's board of directors helps manage the company on behalf of its stakeholders and shareholders. Its board features individuals with a diverse range of backgrounds and leadership skills that span numerous well-known institutions and industries.
- Richard Barton: Barton serves as chief executive officer of Zillow Group. He co-founded Zillow in 2005 and was CEO until 2011 when he became the company's executive chairman. He returned as CEO in early 2019. Prior to Zillow, Rich founded Expedia (EXPE 2.0%) as part of Microsoft (MSFT 0.37%) in 1994. Barton owns 25,478 shares of Netflix, representing fewer than 1% of outstanding shares.
- Mathias Döpfner: He is the chairman, CEO, and a 22% shareholder of Axel Springer SE in Berlin. Axel Springer is one of the top digital publishers in the U.S., with brands that include Politico, Insider, and Morning Brew. The company is also the largest media outlet in Europe. He also is a member of the board of directors of Warner Music Group (WMG 0.44%). Döpfner owns 11,243 shares of Netflix, representing fewer than 1% of outstanding shares.
- Timothy Haley: He has served as one of the directors of Netflix since June 1998. Haley is a co-founder of Redpoint Ventures, a venture capital firm, and has been a managing director of the firm since October 1999. He also has served as a managing director of Institutional Venture Partners since February 1998. Haley owns 32,495 shares of Netflix, fewer than 1% of outstanding shares.
- Reed Hastings: Hastings is the executive chairman, former CEO, and co-founder of Netflix.
- Jay C. Hoag: Hoag has served as one of the company's directors since 1999.
- Leslie Kilgore: Kilgore served as Netflix's chief marketing officer from 2000 until 2012. She has worked as a director of marketing for Amazon, brand manager for Procter & Gamble (PG -0.31%), and on the board of Nextdoor Holdings (NYSE:KIND). She is also a member of the board of Pinterest (PINS -0.87%). Kilgore owns 53,001 shares of Netflix, fewer than 1% of outstanding shares.
- Strive Masiyiwa: He is a telecommunications and technology entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. Masiyiwa founded and is chairman of the Econet Group. He is a member of the boards of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Geographic Society, as well as the global advisory boards of Bank of America (BAC -1.8%) and Stanford University. He owns 6,564 shares of Netflix, representing fewer than 1% of outstanding shares.
- Ann Mather: Mather has served as a member of the Netflix board of directors since 2010 while also serving as a board member of Bumble (BMBL -0.98%) and Blend Labs, Inc. (BLND -0.96%). She was previously on the boards of various companies, including Alphabet (GOOGL 0.75%) (GOOG 0.85%), Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB), and Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET 2.48%). Mather owns 15,772 shares of Netflix, representing fewer than 1% of outstanding shares.
- Greg Peters: The co-CEO of Netflix is also a member of the board.
- Susan Rice: She has been the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a distinguished visiting research fellow at American University's School of International Service, a non-resident senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and a New York Times (NYT -3.0%) bestselling author.
- Ted Sarandos: He has been Netflix's co-CEO since 2020 and is a member of the board.
- Brad Smith: Smith has served as a Netflix director since March 2015. Smith joined Microsoft in 1993 and has been vice chair and president since 2021. He also spent three years spearheading Microsoft's legal and corporate affairs team in Europe and five years as deputy general counsel. Smith owns 36,471 shares of Netflix, representing fewer than 1% of outstanding shares.
- Anne Sweeney: She has been a director at Netflix since March 2015. Sweeney has held various senior roles at the Walt Disney Co. (DIS -1.34%), 21st Century Fox, and Viacom. She was chairman and CEO of FX Networks and spent more than 12 years at Viacom's Nickelodeon network. Sweeney owns 14,805 shares of Netflix, representing fewer than 1% of outstanding shares.
Board of Directors
How to invest
How to invest in Netflix
Because Netflix is a publicly traded company, anyone with a brokerage account can invest in the stock. Even if you don't currently have a brokerage account, opening one is easy. You'll want to find the brokerage account that is best for your investment needs, then fund it so you are ready to put cash into your favorite stocks.
As you determine how much cash to use to fund your brokerage account to buy shares of Netflix or any other stock, consider your budget. You should have a solid emergency fund and money set aside for key expenses like rent and monthly bills. You should only invest cash that you can leave in your portfolio for at least five years.
It's also wise to diversify your investment capital across multiple stocks and industries. A great objective to have is a diversified portfolio of 25 or more stocks. If you follow a strategy like dollar-cost averaging, you can consistently put even a modest amount of capital into various stocks in all kinds of market environments. This can help you avoid risky and often ineffective approaches like market timing while ensuring your are building your portfolio in both smooth and turbulent market landscapes.
Related investing topics
Do your research before you buy shares of any company. Understand its competitors, how the company fits into its industry, its competitive and cost advantages, and its growth trajectory. You should also understand how the business makes money, its balance sheet, and its financial history. The right investment for your portfolio will be personal to your investment objectives, values, and long-term financial goals.
If you're still ready to buy shares of Netflix stock, open your brokerage and pull up its order page. You'll need to enter the right stock ticker (NFLX for Netflix), determine the number of shares you want to buy, and whether you'd like to make a market order or limit order (The Motley Fool recommends a market order since it guarantees you'll buy the stock at the current listed price). Make sure you look everything over before you initiate your trade, then click the submit button to become a Netflix shareholder.
FAQ
Who owns Netflix: FAQ
Who currently owns Netflix?
Netflix is owned by institutional investors and individuals.
Who is Netflix controlled by?
Netflix is controlled by its shareholders, who are mostly institutional investors.
Who runs Netflix?
Netflix has two CEOs, Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos.
Does Amazon own Netflix?
No, Amazon is its own company and does not operate Netflix.
