New book rewrites script about Netflix’s origins, history
SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix is probably hoping a new book about its early history never gets made into a movie.
The book, “Net flixed: The Epic Battle for America’s Eyeballs,” tries to debunk a widely told tale about the company’s origins and paints a polarizing portrait of its star, CEO Reed Hastings.
Set to go on sale Thursday, the book arrives at a pivotal time for Netflix Inc. The video subscription service is still recovering from a customer backlash triggered by Hastings’ hasty decision to raise U. S. prices by as much as 60 per cent last year. Investors remain leery of Netflix as its expenses for Internet video rights steadily climb.
That’s the main reason Netflix’s stock remains about 75 per cent below its peak of nearly $ 305 reached right around the time Hastings announced the price increases 15 months ago.
The book, written by veteran journalist Gina Keating and published by the Penguin Group, draws its insights from interviews with Netflix’s lesser known co- founder, Marc Randolph, and other former employees. It also depends on information from former executives at Blockbuster Entertainment, the once- dominant video rental store chain driven into bankruptcy by the rise of Netflix and Redbox’s DVD- rental kiosks.
Hastings declined to be interviewed for the book.
Keating nevertheless illuminates the competitive gauntlet that Netflix had to navigate to get where it is today. The book also dishes up juicy morsels about various negotiations that could have reshaped Netflix.
According to the book, Hastings and Randolph flew to Seattle sometime in 1998 to meet with Amazon. com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos. The topic of discussion: a possible partnership. At one point, Hastings proposed that Amazon buy Netflix, only to be disappointed when Bezos offered a mere $ 12 million.
Netflix spokesman Jonathan Friedland called the Amazon anecdote “totally untrue.”