Reed Hastings
Encyclopedia
Wilmot Reed Hastings, Jr. (born October 8, 1960) is an entrepreneur
and education philanthropist
. He is the CEO
of Netflix
, and on the boards of Microsoft
, Facebook
, and numerous non-profit organizations.
School in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. His father was a lawyer who once served in the Nixon administration, serving as general counsel in the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. After high school, he spent a year selling Rainbow vacuum cleaners door to door.
Hastings majored in mathematics at Bowdoin College
in Brunswick, Maine
, and won its mathematics department's Smyth Prize
in 1981, and its Hammond Prize in 1983. Hastings received his bachelor's degree
from the college in 1983.
officer training through their Platoon Leader Class and spent the summer of 1981 in Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia
. "I found myself questioning how we packed our backpacks and how we made our beds," said Hastings. "My questioning wasn’t particularly encouraged, and I realized I might be better off in the Peace Corps. I petitioned the recruiting office and left the Marines."
Hastings joined the Peace Corps
after dropping out of Marine OCS "out of a combination of service and adventure" says Hastings, and went to teach high school math in Swaziland
from 1983 to 1985. Hastings credits part of his entrepreneurial spirit to his time in the Peace Corps. "It was an extremely satisfying experience." "Once you have hitchhiked across Africa with ten bucks in your pocket, starting a business doesn't seem too intimidating."
After returning from the Peace Corps, Hastings went to graduate school at Stanford. "I didn’t get into my first choice, which was MIT
but I got accepted to Stanford," said Hastings. "I had never been to California and arrived in late summer. Driving up to the campus I saw palm trees. It was dry and brown. I asked myself, 'Where’s the ivy?' Within a week I had fallen in love with California." Unfortunately, his expectation of finding ivy upon arrival at Stanford, presumably derived from the common misconception that Stanford is an Ivy League university, would go unrealized. Nonetheless, Hastings earned a master's degree
in computer science
from Stanford University
in 1988.
in 1990 when she was CEO at Adaptive Corp. From her, I learned the value of focus. I learned it is better to do one product well than two products in a mediocre way," says Hastings.
Hastings left Adaptive Technology in 1991 to found his first company, Pure Software
, which produced products to troubleshoot software. Hastings found running the company challenging as the company grew exponentially. "As the company grew from 10 to 40 to 120 to 320 to 640 employees, I found I was definitely underwater and over my head," said Hastings. "I was doing white-water kayaking at the time, and in kayaking if you stare and focus on the problem you are much more likely to hit danger. I focused on the safe water and what I wanted to happen. I didn’t listen to the skeptics." Hastings' engineering background didn't prepare him for the challenges of being a CEO and he asked his board to replace him. "I tried to fire myself — twice," Hastings says. "I was losing confidence." The board refused and Hastings says he learned to be a businessman. "I was an engineer myself. We doubled our revenue every year, but my transformation from engineer to CEO was when Morgan Stanley took the company public in 1995."
In 1996, Pure Software announced a merger with Atria Software. The merger integrated Pure Software's programs for detecting bugs in software with Atria's tools to manage development of complex software. "With a single vendor and a unified sales force, we'll be able to make a really profound difference in the way people develop software," Hastings said at the time of the merger. But the Wall Street Journal reported that there were problems integrating the sales forces of Pure Software and Atria after the head salesmen for both Pure and Atria left following the merger.
In 1997, the combined company, Pure Atria, was acquired by Rational Software
, which triggered a 42% drop in both companies' stocks after the deal was announced. Hastings was appointed Chief Technical Officer of the combined companies and left soon after the acquisition. "I had the great fortune of doing a mediocre job at my first company," says Hastings. "We got more bureaucratic as we grew." After Pure Software, Hastings spent two years thinking about how to avoid similar problems at his next startup.
In 1998 Hastings and Marc Randolph co-founded Netflix, offering flat rate
rental-by-mail to customers in the United States
. Headquartered in Los Gatos
, California
, Netflix has amassed a collection of 100,000 titles and over 20 million subscribers. "I got the idea for Netflix after my company was acquired," said Hastings. "I had a big late fee for 'Apollo 13.' It was six weeks late and I owed the video store $40. I had misplaced the cassette. It was all my fault. I didn’t want to tell my wife about it. And I said to myself, 'I’m going to compromise the integrity of my marriage over a late fee?' Later, on my way to the gym, I realized they had a much better business model. You could pay $30 or $40 a month and work out as little or as much as you wanted."
Hastings said that when he founded Netflix, he had no idea whether customers would use the service. "Netflix was originally a single rental service, but the subscription model was one of a few ideas we had--so there was no Aha! moment. Having unlimited due dates and no late fees has worked in a powerful way and now seems obvious, but at that time we had no idea if consumers would even build and use an online queue."
to whoever could devise a system that was 10 percent more accurate than the company’s current system for recommending movies that customers would like. Hastings didn’t necessarily expect a lot of quick progress towards the prize. "We thought we built the best darn thing ever," Hastings said. But by June, 2007 Hastings said the competition is "three-quarters of the way there in three-quarters of a year."
Netflix is also innovative in its management practices. Netflix is known to pay salaries that are typically much higher than customary to attract the best talent and is one of the few companies where employees can choose annually how much of their compensation they want in cash vs. stock. "We're unafraid to pay high," says Hastings. Other innovations include their treatment of employees who don't meet expectations. "At most companies, average performers get an average raise," says Hastings. "At Netflix, they get a generous severance package," because that way managers don't feel too guilty to let average performers go.
and sees it as the future. "I think there's a huge category of people who will watch movies on laptops," says Hastings. "And remember, it's not the laptop of today. Think of the laptop in five years. People will continue to want to watch movies on TV. No doubt about it. But laptop screens are improving. And young people are living on laptops." Netflix launched a service in 2007 to stream movies and television to a users' computers. "What we're finding is that young people, under 25, are watching our streaming on their PCs in huge numbers," says Hastings. "They operate more portably than we do with our big screen TVs."
2011, Netflix announced that it would spin off its popular DVD business under a new brand name, Qwikster, leading to even more customer and market confusion. Netflix reversed the decision less than a month later. During this time the company's stock value plummeted and Hastings was widely expected to resign, but he flatly rejected the idea. "I founded Netflix," he told an interviewer; "I've built it steadily over 12 years... [and] this is the first time there have been material missteps. If you look at the cumulative track record, it's extremely positive."
announced that Hastings had been elected to its board of directors. "There are very few companies that rival Microsoft’s impact on the way millions of people live, work and play around the world," Hastings said upon his appointment. "I look forward to working with Microsoft’s esteemed group of board members to help shape the direction of the company as it continues to tackle the biggest industry challenges and opportunities." On May 23, 2007 Hastings added that "It is tremendously engaging being in the room with Bill Gates
and Steve Ballmer
for a day or two, four times a year, which helps me understand why and how Microsoft has been so successful for 30 years."
. In 2000, Governor Gray Davis
appointed Hastings to the State Board of Education, and in 2001, Hastings became its president. Hastings spent $1 million of his own money together with $6 million from Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr
to promote the passage of Proposition 39 in November 2000, a measure that lowered the level of voter approval for local schools to pass construction bond issues from 66 to 55 percent. “He is absolutely driven to improve the level of education in this country,” said friend Nick McKeown
.
In 1995 after Hasting's company Pure Software was acquired for $750 million two years later, his personal wealth allowed him to pursue his passion for school reform. "After Pure Software, I had a bunch of money, and I didn't really want to buy yachts and such things," said Hastings. "I wanted to find something important to do. And I started looking at education, trying to figure out why our education is lagging when our technology is increasing at great rates and there's great innovation in so many other areas -- health care, biotech, information technology, movie-making. Why not education?"
In 2005 Hastings ran into trouble on the State Board of Education when Democratic legislators challenged Hastings’ advocacy of more English instruction and language testing for non-English-speaking students. The California Senate Rules Committee refused to confirm him as the Board president. The California State Legislature
rejected him in January 2005. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
, who had reappointed Hastings to the board after Hastings' first term, issued a statement saying he was "disappointed" in the committee’s action. Hastings resigned.
On April 3, 2008 Steven Maviglio reported that Hastings had made a $100,000 contribution to California Governor Schwarzenegger's "Voters First" redistricting campaign and wrote that Hastings may still be smarting from the State Senate's rejection of Hastings' seat on California's State Board of Education.
, and EdVoice.net and has led the successful drive in 1998 for a stronger charter school
law in California.
On July 11, 2006 the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that Hastings donated $1 million in startup funds to Beacon Education Network to open up new charter schools in Santa Cruz county, where he lives. "Small schools aren't for everyone but in some kids they work better in terms of academic preparation for college," Hastings said. "The small school focus is particularly true for students who don't get as much academic support at home."
On June 30, 2010, Hastings was a keynote speaker at the National Charter Schools Conference in Chicago, Illinois. The conference's theme was "Innovators in Education."
reported that Democrat Hastings had donated $1 million to a committee formed to support California State Superintendent of Schools Jack O'Connell
's candidacy for Governor of California in 2010.
On April 12, 2009, Hastings donated $251,491.03 to Budget Reform Now, a coalition supporting California Propositions 1A to 1F. If Proposition 1A passes, $10 billion in "temporary" sales, use, income and vehicle taxes imposed as part of the 2009-2010 budget agreement would each be extended for one or two years, resulting in a further tax increase of some $16 billion.
On September 23, 2010, an interview with Reed Hastings was posted stating that he believes that Americans are somewhat self-absorbed, and ignorant to happenings outside of the United States. In the interview Reed Hastings is quoted as saying "How much has it been your experience that Americans follow what happens in the world? It's something we'll monitor, but Americans are somewhat self-absorbed." He later apologized.
, is married, and has two children.
He was featured in a front-page article in USA Today
in 1995, posing on his Porsche
. Nowadays he eschews flamboyance and says if he ever appeared on the front page of USA Today again it will "not [be] on the hood of a Porsche, but I would [pose] with a bunch of movies."
One of Hastings' favorite movies is Gloomy Sunday
. "It is about a love triangle in Budapest with great sadness and redemption. Thankfully, there are no parallels to Netflix," says Hastings.
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and education philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
. He is the CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of Netflix
Netflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
, and on the boards of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, and numerous non-profit organizations.
Early life and education
Hastings was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from high school in 1978 from the Buckingham Browne & NicholsBuckingham Browne & Nichols
Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, often referred to as BB&N, is a private school located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by the Charles River. The school educates students from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade. It was established by a merge of two independent schools, the Buckingham School founded...
School in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. His father was a lawyer who once served in the Nixon administration, serving as general counsel in the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. After high school, he spent a year selling Rainbow vacuum cleaners door to door.
Hastings majored in mathematics at Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
in Brunswick, Maine
Brunswick, Maine
Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 20,278 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, , and the...
, and won its mathematics department's Smyth Prize
William Smyth (professor)
William Smyth was a writer on mathematics and other subjects. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1822, then studied theology at Phillips Academy Andover. In 1825, he became a professor of mathematics at Bowdoin College, and in 1846 became an associate professor of natural philosophy...
in 1981, and its Hammond Prize in 1983. Hastings received his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from the college in 1983.
Peace Corps service
Hastings entered Marine CorpsUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
officer training through their Platoon Leader Class and spent the summer of 1981 in Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia
Quantico, Virginia
- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there are 561 people, 295 households, and 107 families living in the town. The population density is . There are 359 housing units at an average density of .-Racial composition:...
. "I found myself questioning how we packed our backpacks and how we made our beds," said Hastings. "My questioning wasn’t particularly encouraged, and I realized I might be better off in the Peace Corps. I petitioned the recruiting office and left the Marines."
Hastings joined the Peace Corps
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
after dropping out of Marine OCS "out of a combination of service and adventure" says Hastings, and went to teach high school math in Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
from 1983 to 1985. Hastings credits part of his entrepreneurial spirit to his time in the Peace Corps. "It was an extremely satisfying experience." "Once you have hitchhiked across Africa with ten bucks in your pocket, starting a business doesn't seem too intimidating."
After returning from the Peace Corps, Hastings went to graduate school at Stanford. "I didn’t get into my first choice, which was MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
but I got accepted to Stanford," said Hastings. "I had never been to California and arrived in late summer. Driving up to the campus I saw palm trees. It was dry and brown. I asked myself, 'Where’s the ivy?' Within a week I had fallen in love with California." Unfortunately, his expectation of finding ivy upon arrival at Stanford, presumably derived from the common misconception that Stanford is an Ivy League university, would go unrealized. Nonetheless, Hastings earned a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in 1988.
Founding of Pure Software
Hastings' first job was at Adaptive Technology, where he invented a tool for debugging software. "I worked for Audrey MacLeanAudrey MacLean
Audrey MacLean is an American business woman and entrepreneur. She was been featured on Forbes’ Midas Touch List, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women and Business Week’s Top 50 Business Women in America...
in 1990 when she was CEO at Adaptive Corp. From her, I learned the value of focus. I learned it is better to do one product well than two products in a mediocre way," says Hastings.
Hastings left Adaptive Technology in 1991 to found his first company, Pure Software
Pure Software
Pure Software was founded in October 1991 by Reed Hastings and Mark Box. The original product was a debugging tool for Unix/C engineers called Purify. After adding new products such as Quantify and PureLink, and doubling its revenue every year for four years, Pure Software went public with the...
, which produced products to troubleshoot software. Hastings found running the company challenging as the company grew exponentially. "As the company grew from 10 to 40 to 120 to 320 to 640 employees, I found I was definitely underwater and over my head," said Hastings. "I was doing white-water kayaking at the time, and in kayaking if you stare and focus on the problem you are much more likely to hit danger. I focused on the safe water and what I wanted to happen. I didn’t listen to the skeptics." Hastings' engineering background didn't prepare him for the challenges of being a CEO and he asked his board to replace him. "I tried to fire myself — twice," Hastings says. "I was losing confidence." The board refused and Hastings says he learned to be a businessman. "I was an engineer myself. We doubled our revenue every year, but my transformation from engineer to CEO was when Morgan Stanley took the company public in 1995."
In 1996, Pure Software announced a merger with Atria Software. The merger integrated Pure Software's programs for detecting bugs in software with Atria's tools to manage development of complex software. "With a single vendor and a unified sales force, we'll be able to make a really profound difference in the way people develop software," Hastings said at the time of the merger. But the Wall Street Journal reported that there were problems integrating the sales forces of Pure Software and Atria after the head salesmen for both Pure and Atria left following the merger.
In 1997, the combined company, Pure Atria, was acquired by Rational Software
Rational Software
Rational Machines was founded by Paul Levy and Mike Devlin in 1981 to provide tools to expand the use of modern software engineering practices, particularly explicit modular architecture and iterative development...
, which triggered a 42% drop in both companies' stocks after the deal was announced. Hastings was appointed Chief Technical Officer of the combined companies and left soon after the acquisition. "I had the great fortune of doing a mediocre job at my first company," says Hastings. "We got more bureaucratic as we grew." After Pure Software, Hastings spent two years thinking about how to avoid similar problems at his next startup.
Founding of Netflix
Flat rate
A flat fee, also referred to as a flat rate or a linear rate, refers to a pricing structure that charges a single fixed fee for a service, regardless of usage. Rarely, it may refer to a rate that does not vary with usage or time of use...
rental-by-mail to customers in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Headquartered in Los Gatos
Los Gatos, California
The Town of Los Gatos is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 29,413 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area at the southwest corner of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Netflix has amassed a collection of 100,000 titles and over 20 million subscribers. "I got the idea for Netflix after my company was acquired," said Hastings. "I had a big late fee for 'Apollo 13.' It was six weeks late and I owed the video store $40. I had misplaced the cassette. It was all my fault. I didn’t want to tell my wife about it. And I said to myself, 'I’m going to compromise the integrity of my marriage over a late fee?' Later, on my way to the gym, I realized they had a much better business model. You could pay $30 or $40 a month and work out as little or as much as you wanted."
Hastings said that when he founded Netflix, he had no idea whether customers would use the service. "Netflix was originally a single rental service, but the subscription model was one of a few ideas we had--so there was no Aha! moment. Having unlimited due dates and no late fees has worked in a powerful way and now seems obvious, but at that time we had no idea if consumers would even build and use an online queue."
Netflix business practices
In October of 2006, Netflix announced that it would award a $1 million prizeNetflix Prize
The Netflix Prize was an open competition for the best collaborative filtering algorithm to predict user ratings for films, based on previous ratings....
to whoever could devise a system that was 10 percent more accurate than the company’s current system for recommending movies that customers would like. Hastings didn’t necessarily expect a lot of quick progress towards the prize. "We thought we built the best darn thing ever," Hastings said. But by June, 2007 Hastings said the competition is "three-quarters of the way there in three-quarters of a year."
Netflix is also innovative in its management practices. Netflix is known to pay salaries that are typically much higher than customary to attract the best talent and is one of the few companies where employees can choose annually how much of their compensation they want in cash vs. stock. "We're unafraid to pay high," says Hastings. Other innovations include their treatment of employees who don't meet expectations. "At most companies, average performers get an average raise," says Hastings. "At Netflix, they get a generous severance package," because that way managers don't feel too guilty to let average performers go.
Internet television
Hastings is a big proponent of Internet televisionInternet television
Internet television is the digital distribution of television content via the Internet...
and sees it as the future. "I think there's a huge category of people who will watch movies on laptops," says Hastings. "And remember, it's not the laptop of today. Think of the laptop in five years. People will continue to want to watch movies on TV. No doubt about it. But laptop screens are improving. And young people are living on laptops." Netflix launched a service in 2007 to stream movies and television to a users' computers. "What we're finding is that young people, under 25, are watching our streaming on their PCs in huge numbers," says Hastings. "They operate more portably than we do with our big screen TVs."
Controversy
In July 2011, Reed Hastings and Netflix announced that subscription prices were increasing, some by as much as 60%, a move which led to reported customer backlash, cancellations, less than projected subscriber growth, and a decline in stock price. In response, Netflix admitted to poor public relations decisions in announcing the change but kept its policy in place. In September2011, Netflix announced that it would spin off its popular DVD business under a new brand name, Qwikster, leading to even more customer and market confusion. Netflix reversed the decision less than a month later. During this time the company's stock value plummeted and Hastings was widely expected to resign, but he flatly rejected the idea. "I founded Netflix," he told an interviewer; "I've built it steadily over 12 years... [and] this is the first time there have been material missteps. If you look at the cumulative track record, it's extremely positive."
Other business interests
On March 26, 2007, MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
announced that Hastings had been elected to its board of directors. "There are very few companies that rival Microsoft’s impact on the way millions of people live, work and play around the world," Hastings said upon his appointment. "I look forward to working with Microsoft’s esteemed group of board members to help shape the direction of the company as it continues to tackle the biggest industry challenges and opportunities." On May 23, 2007 Hastings added that "It is tremendously engaging being in the room with Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
and Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer
Steven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer is an American business magnate. He is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, having held that post since January 2000. , his personal wealth is estimated at US$13.9 billion, ranking number 19 on the Forbes 400.-Early life:Ballmer was born in Detroit, Michigan to...
for a day or two, four times a year, which helps me understand why and how Microsoft has been so successful for 30 years."
California State Board of Education
After selling Pure Software and making a fortune, Hastings found himself without a goal. "I was so ego-identified with [Pure] that I felt like a failure," Hastings says. He became interested in educational reform in California and enrolled in Stanford’s School of EducationStanford University School of Education
The Stanford University School of Education , is one of the seven schools of Stanford University. It is the second-oldest school of education in the United States, after NYU...
. In 2000, Governor Gray Davis
Gray Davis
Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis, Jr. is an American Democratic politician who served as California's 37th Governor from 1999 until being recalled in 2003...
appointed Hastings to the State Board of Education, and in 2001, Hastings became its president. Hastings spent $1 million of his own money together with $6 million from Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr
John Doerr
L. John Doerr is an American venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in Menlo Park, California, in Silicon Valley. In February 2009, Doerr was appointed as a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the president and his administration with advice and...
to promote the passage of Proposition 39 in November 2000, a measure that lowered the level of voter approval for local schools to pass construction bond issues from 66 to 55 percent. “He is absolutely driven to improve the level of education in this country,” said friend Nick McKeown
Nick McKeown
Nicholas William McKeown, better known as Nick McKeown, is an English-American expert in computer networking. His career includes both education and starting companies in Silicon Valley.-Biography:Nick McKeown was born April 7, 1963 in Bedford, England....
.
In 1995 after Hasting's company Pure Software was acquired for $750 million two years later, his personal wealth allowed him to pursue his passion for school reform. "After Pure Software, I had a bunch of money, and I didn't really want to buy yachts and such things," said Hastings. "I wanted to find something important to do. And I started looking at education, trying to figure out why our education is lagging when our technology is increasing at great rates and there's great innovation in so many other areas -- health care, biotech, information technology, movie-making. Why not education?"
In 2005 Hastings ran into trouble on the State Board of Education when Democratic legislators challenged Hastings’ advocacy of more English instruction and language testing for non-English-speaking students. The California Senate Rules Committee refused to confirm him as the Board president. The California State Legislature
California State Legislature
The California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...
rejected him in January 2005. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, who had reappointed Hastings to the board after Hastings' first term, issued a statement saying he was "disappointed" in the committee’s action. Hastings resigned.
On April 3, 2008 Steven Maviglio reported that Hastings had made a $100,000 contribution to California Governor Schwarzenegger's "Voters First" redistricting campaign and wrote that Hastings may still be smarting from the State Senate's rejection of Hastings' seat on California's State Board of Education.
Charter schools
Hastings is active in educational philanthropy and politics and one of the issues Hastings most strongly advocates is charter schools, publicly funded elementary or secondary schools that have been freed from some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools, in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter. "If public schools don't adopt the same principles of competition and accountability as exist in the private and nonprofit sectors, they will continue to deteriorate," says Hastings. "One way to permanently impact the system would be to have 10 to 20 percent of California schoolchildren enrolled in charter schools. That would be critical mass, and enough of a force to induce a competitive dynamic in the system," he added. Hastings is a founding member of NewSchools.org, Aspire Public Schools, Pacific Collegiate SchoolPacific Collegiate School
Pacific Collegiate School is a grades 7-12 charter school located on the westside of Santa Cruz, California.Currently, the number of students hovers around 514. The school mascot is the Puma, and the school colors are black and silver...
, and EdVoice.net and has led the successful drive in 1998 for a stronger charter school
Charter school
Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter...
law in California.
On July 11, 2006 the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that Hastings donated $1 million in startup funds to Beacon Education Network to open up new charter schools in Santa Cruz county, where he lives. "Small schools aren't for everyone but in some kids they work better in terms of academic preparation for college," Hastings said. "The small school focus is particularly true for students who don't get as much academic support at home."
On June 30, 2010, Hastings was a keynote speaker at the National Charter Schools Conference in Chicago, Illinois. The conference's theme was "Innovators in Education."
Technology
Hastings is a member of Technology Network, a political network of Businessmen and Executives that promotes technology growth and innovation. TechNet brings its members together with national policy makers to advance America's global leadership in innovation. Hastings served as CEO of Technology Network for a year.Politics
On August 1, 2007 the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
reported that Democrat Hastings had donated $1 million to a committee formed to support California State Superintendent of Schools Jack O'Connell
Jack O'Connell
Jack T. O'Connell is an American politician and the former 26th California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, having been elected to the post in November 2002 with 61% of the vote. He was re-elected to his post by receiving a majority of the vote in the Primary election on June 6, 2006,...
's candidacy for Governor of California in 2010.
On April 12, 2009, Hastings donated $251,491.03 to Budget Reform Now, a coalition supporting California Propositions 1A to 1F. If Proposition 1A passes, $10 billion in "temporary" sales, use, income and vehicle taxes imposed as part of the 2009-2010 budget agreement would each be extended for one or two years, resulting in a further tax increase of some $16 billion.
On September 23, 2010, an interview with Reed Hastings was posted stating that he believes that Americans are somewhat self-absorbed, and ignorant to happenings outside of the United States. In the interview Reed Hastings is quoted as saying "How much has it been your experience that Americans follow what happens in the world? It's something we'll monitor, but Americans are somewhat self-absorbed." He later apologized.
Personal
Hastings lives in the San Francisco Bay AreaSan Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, is married, and has two children.
He was featured in a front-page article in USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
in 1995, posing on his Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
. Nowadays he eschews flamboyance and says if he ever appeared on the front page of USA Today again it will "not [be] on the hood of a Porsche, but I would [pose] with a bunch of movies."
One of Hastings' favorite movies is Gloomy Sunday
Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod
Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod is a 1999 film, a German/Hungarian co-production.Although the movie centers on a romantic love triangle with tragic consequences, it has a strong history background, set in Hungary during World War II...
. "It is about a love triangle in Budapest with great sadness and redemption. Thankfully, there are no parallels to Netflix," says Hastings.