Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder and chair, will leave the board in June after nearly 30 years at the $450bn streaming giant. The announcement, combined with a weaker-than-expected Q2 forecast, drove Netflix shares down 9.6% in after-hours trading despite strong Q1 results.

Q1 earnings reached $1.23 per share, well above Wall Street's 76-cent consensus, lifted by a $2.8bn break fee from Paramount after Netflix withdrew from the $83bn Warner Bros Discovery bidding war. Revenue was $12.3bn and net income $5.3bn, also boosted by recent price increases. But guidance of 78 cents for Q2 EPS missed the 84-cent Street expectation. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos praised Hastings for building "a company of risk-takers" and pointed to the World Baseball Classic in Japan as proof that Netflix's new live-engagement plays drive sign-ups and ad revenue.

Citi analyst Jason Bazinet flagged that management kept its 2026 capital-allocation plan unchanged, disappointing hopes for larger buybacks or higher margin guidance. Investors are now focused on audience engagement as the core metric after the failed Warner Bros bid; Raymond James analysts note engagement is "now investors' most focused-on metric". Hastings, who began paring back responsibilities in 2020, will focus on philanthropy via the Hastings Fund. Source: Financial Times, 16 April 2026, Christopher Grimes.