Wednesday, Dec. 07, 2011
Reed Hastings
"I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation," wrote Netflix CEO Reed Hastings on Sept. 18, nearly two months after the company announced it would raise prices and split its live-streaming and DVD services, the latter to be renamed Qwikster. The decision drew outrage from users and caused the company to lose 800,000 subscribers. In a candid post on Netflix's blog, Hastings explained that while cost changes and the separation of services were necessary, the way they were handled lacked "respect and humility." The apology wasn't enough to halt the backlash among users, and on Oct. 10, Hastings wrote in another blog post that Netflix was reversing its decision: "This means no change: one website, one account, one password."