Home Media Magazine - December 21, 2008 - (Page 12) aptains »hastings CEO and Founder, Netflix OF THE INDUSTRY REED R eed Hastings founded Netflix in 1997 and launched the subscription service in 1999, revolutionizing the way consumers rent packaged media. Netflix grew to 1 million subscribers in less than four years, and reached 9 million subscribers by the end of 2008. The online DVD rental pioneer is consistently profitable, an analyst and media darling with stock valuations either holding steady or rising despite the economic tumult. Not content to put all his eggs in the packaged media basket, Hastings has championed streaming content to the Web via proprietary and third-party devices. Netflix this month began offering high-definition streamed content to consumers of Profile 2.0 Blu-ray players from LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics, in addition to the Microsoft Xbox 360, TiVo digital video recorder and Netflix box from Roku. In 2005, Time magazine added Reed to its “Time 100” list of the 100 most influential global citizens. Newsweek said, “Netflix revolutionized the way we watch movies.” Key executives reporting to Hastings: I Barry McCarthy, CFO I Neil Hunt, chief product officer I Leslie Kilgore, chief marketing officer I Patty McCord, chief talent officer I Ted Sarandos, chief content officer W hen it comes to running DVD rental kiosks, Gregg Kaplan applies the words of his first boss. “In my first job out of college, my boss took me into his office during one of my first few days on the job and said, ‘Let me give you some advice: whatever you do here, always exceed expectations on every project, on every assignment and every day, and you will be successful. I guarantee it,’” Kaplan said. “Throughout my career, I have tried to follow his guidance.” What started as an experiment in a few McDonald’s restaurants in 2003 has ballooned into more than 12,000 locations, more than 200 million DVD releases, expansion into airports, and most recently rental experiments with Blu-ray Disc. And Kaplan has been there since day one. “I try to get out to our markets as often as possible and visit many of the Redbox kiosks around the country,” said Kaplan, who attended the University of Michigan and earned a master’s degree at Harvard. Redbox’s size dwarfs the nearest competitors, and Kaplan is quick to credit many of his co-workers, specifically COO Mitch Lowe and CFO John Harvey, for the company’s success. »kaplan CEO, Redbox ames Keyes heads the No. 1 DVD rental chain with worldwide revenue of more than $5.5 billion in 2007. Since coming to Blockbuster in July 2007, Keyes has aggressively sought to transform the rental pure-play into an entertainment retail center. Under his direction, Blockbuster has bowed a $99 set-top box that delivers movies from the Internet (Blockbuster On-Demand) to the TV. It is also testing proprietary rental kiosks and content downloads to scan discs and flash drives. Blockbuster has reported successive quarterly same-store sales gains in 2008. A 21-year veteran of 7-Eleven, the world’s largest chain of convenience stores, Keyes served as its president and CEO from 2000 until 2005. Senior executives reporting to Keyes: I Keith Morrow, chief information officer I Tom Casey, EVP and CFO I David Podeschi, SVP of merchandise, logistics and distribution I Steve Krumholz, SVP of asset management I Eric Peterson, EVP, general counsel and secretary I Tom Kurrikoff, SVP North American store operations GREGG J »keyes Chairman and CEO, Blockbuster Inc. JAMES »kornblau President, Universal Studios Home Entertainment CRAIG C raig Kornblau has been president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment since March 1999 and assumed the additional title of president of Universal Pictures Digital Platforms in May 2007. He’s charged with overseeing the global digital activities for all of Universal Pictures, including worldwide electronic sellthrough and high-definition disc, domestic video-ondemand, the Advanced Technology Group, and DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group. An avid proponent of new technologies, Kornblau jumpstarted the industry’s nationwide launch of a next-generation, high-definition disc and boosted electronic sellthrough in April 2006 by making Brokeback Mountain available through Movielink for digital download day-and-date with the film’s initial DVD release — an industry first. In 2005, he launched the company initiative to develop superior made-for-DVD content. Kornblau currently serves as CFO of the DEG’s executive committee. Executives reporting to Kornblau: I Tom Emrey, EVP and COO I Hilary Hoffman, SVP, brand and digital marketing I Dick Longwell, EVP, sales and category management I Christine Lawton, SVP, business affairs I Glenn Ross, GM and EVP, Universal Studios Home Entertainment Family Productions I Adam Rymer, SVP, digital platforms I John Morici, SVP and CFO 12 Home Media Magazine December 21–27, 2008
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