Netflix CEO Reed Hastings Pledges to Give Away Half of His Wealth

CNN Money reports that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has joined 91 billionaires pledging to give away half of his wealth. The Giving Pledge, started by Bill & Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet, has encouraged billionaires to pledge half of their wealth to charity.

"We are thrilled to join with other fortunate people to pledge a majority of our assets to be invested in others," Hastings and Quillin wrote in a letter posted on the Giving Pledge's website. "We hope through this community that we can learn as we go, and do our best to make a positive difference for many."

Comments

[iPad App Developer]

Yes, I saw that news over CNN. I think this is good news for those who are in under poverty line situation like Africa countries and other part of world.

[Improvement on Social Media]

Thanks to Charity.

[Serra]

Its great that these people are donating to charities. This is the way it should work, rich people helping others with their own money, not the government stealing it and wasting it.

[Larry Dallas]

how about giving his employees paid holidays and sick days?

[Stevejk]

Yawn! Of course he's going to give away half of his wealth when he shuffles off his mortal coil. It's not called the Death Tax for nothing. Thanks to Marxists/Progressives, EVERYONE gives away half of their wealth when they reach room temperature.

[Nathan]

Good for him.

[CaptainBetty]

How selfish... he should just give it to the government - they'll know how best to distribute his wealth.

[Perkins Cobb]

Didn't he do that already when the stock tanked?

[Daniel L]

Serra nailed it.

[Vince Colucci]

It would be nice if Gates spent his money making a product that actually works when it is released.

[Perkins Cobb]

No, Serra didn't nail it. Who wants their safety net to be dependent on some rich jerk who could decide to buy 10,000 Ferraris instead? Not me. Fair taxation is the better alternative.

[CF]

@Larry Dallas,

Speaking as a Netflix employee, I assure you I take advantage of more paid vacation and sick days than in pretty much every single company I've ever worked at previous to Netflix. Reed doesn't owe me anything on that front.

-cf

[Mike thompson]

How about he keeps his cash....use it to buy out his outsource call centers. Save the company with that money. About 2 or 3 years ago when streaming first started it had a bunch of issues. It was a pleasure to call and get help. Now you call and you get more pissed off then when you had a streaming problem. I called about a web site shut down 2 or 3 weeks ago. The guy told me he would get me to someone that could get me going. I waited and got another kid that only deals with DVD or at least mostly dvd's. He told me the site was down and had been for an hour or so and wasn't sure why the other call center couldn't tell me that. I guess the other center was an outsource company and he was at the original Netflix call center. I asked if they had a # just to get to the original center. They do. Thank god

[Larry Dallas]

dear CF, I am also a netflix employee full time, punch a clock ever day

We get no paid days off, ever.

[KB]

@Larry

Another Netflix employee here, work at OR call center. Did you opt for the higher paycheck in lieu of the paid days off? You should have gotten that choice on going full time.

KB

[Soda Pop Boy]

@ Larry Call Center or HUB? If call center and not in Oregon or CA?

[Shawn]

Attaway, Reed. An inspiring move. I hope you follow Bill Gates lead and use your analytic talent plus your financial resources to have a real impact on the toughest issues that face us. I for one can't wait to see what you take on, and how you innovate in doing it. Seriously -- bravo!

Shawn

[Sean]

If you work at the OR call center you have the option for 13.00/hr w.o paid sick days or 14.00/hr with. The choice was yours if you were in the OR call center.

[hubguy]

I think it must be the other way around, Sean. The problem I have with the time off policy is first, that it was presented as a favor netflix was doing us. for a while there was no paid time off, then after a while they gave paid time off if you agreed to a lower hourly rate. pretty much works out the same. I think if you take no time off other than the holidays that they close, you come out ahead by taking the higher rate. y other problem with this is that when they post a job opening, they advertise the higher rate and then tell people after the hiring process that if they want paid days off they have to work for less per hour. seems like a bait and switch to me. I've never heard of any other company doing this.

[KB]

Sean, you need to reverse those. It's 13 with paid sick or 14 without.

[Larry Dallas]

only a fool would take the lower pay as once you factor in OT you get better time & half out of it, and thus more $$$ in the long run

But with all that said, the insurance policy is amazing

[eviltimes]

To hell with charity. Send the money to me - all of it. It might just cover what you owe me for the frustration and BS you've handed me over the last decade plus.
Karma's a bitch - remember that, Reed!

[Sean]

^^ we all feel very sorry for you. You deserve all his money.

[keep it reel]

perhaps he should track down all the employees that were unjustly terminated due to crazy and political supervisors and give them a netflix reparations bonus check?

[Anon]

To the person who wants the other call centers gone, you need to understand that when they ask you in the beginning "do you currently receive DVDs?" that center takes ONLY streaming account calls & non-member calls because that is what they have access to regardless of the question you asked. So the representative that you spoke to threw another representative under the bus even though they knew the policy. You are correct the main center in California can handle hybrid and DVD accounts because they have full access to that information.

[Mike thompson]

@Anon~ No I do not get DVD's. But I will say I do in the future so I can talk to the Netflix people. And I wouldn't say they threw them under the bus. He just responded to questions I asked. I know what happened I started getting a little upset and he kicked me over to some other guy. And before you ask I wasn't screaming or being rude. As a matter of fact the Netflix rep said the other guy probably thought he needed a supervisor and hit the transfer button instead of hold by mistake. I really think he attempted to cover for him. He said they have the same training and it was a simple mistake.

[marco]

Reed is an idiot if you ask me. This company may not even survive another 5 years and he is pledging to give away half of his great wealth.

[Dumbarse]

How sickening. So many people work for Netflix busting there ass right here in America for next to nothing. This guy would rather give his fortune away to the lazy poor bums that would rather stand on a free way exit holding an all is lost please help sign, than give it to the people who helped stuff the envelopes and scrub his toilets. What a jerk. Why not give it to the thousands of people he had to lay off. The people who cant make ends meet because he was stupid enough to float the dumb idea of Quickster. Or the many other mistakes he made intentionally to draw attention away from the plundering! Truth is nobody would do a story on it if he gave his employees a bonus. He wouldn't get into heaven for that. My advice to all you billionaires out there is this. Help the least fortunate that helped you at some point and forget about third world countries that never cared enough about themselves as a society to help themselves or there neighbor.

[Boomer]

Nine tenths would be more like it. They'd all still be filthy rich. Hastings could give away that much and still be worth $30 or $40 million. Poor baby!

I'm not just talking from envy. In a political system now fueled largely by unregulated money, we don't want too much of the money to go into too few pockets. Or they'll own us.

Besides -- there are few major problems on earth that were ever solved once and for all by charity. Charity is the small change of society, given by individuals at their discretion.

No, problems are really solved when they become a societal priority -- that is, something paid for by taxes from us all. Right now, our societal priorities seem to be a ginormous army to support global trade (and make it easier to ship U.S. jobs overseas), and supporting Wall Street. Who do you think pays for the politicians to make that happen?