Netflix will continue to invest to be global player, says Hastings

Netflix co-founder and CEO, Reed Hastings

Netflix will take on several more years of zero margin growth to become a global TV player, present in all major markets including China, according to CEO Reed Hastings. 

Speaking to the UK Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Hastings said the company’s shareholders’ were “comfortable” with its expansion plans and that it would take between three and five years to become profitable in each new market it entered.

Hastings reiterated his opposition to paying for capacity on service providers’ networks and his support for net neutrality. He said charging for preferential access would open “Pandora’s box” and claimed that networks had plenty of capacity to deliver his services and those of other content providers.

Hastings told the Sunday Telegraph that Netflix had managed to make good progress in the UK market on the strength of its TV offering. However, he said that Netflix would “definitely” bid against BSkyB’s Sky Movies to secure first-run rights from one of the big Hollywood studios when deals came up for renewal.