Flashback To 1998, When Netflix Rejected Jeff Bezos Led Amazon's Offer To Buy It For $15 Million
Before it became the streaming giant that it is today, Netflix was a DVD rental business founded in 1997. A year later, e-commerce firm Amazon was interested in acquiring it. In 1998, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos even offered $15 million for Netflix, which was then just a one-year-old company. Netflix co-founders Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings turned down his offer, and the rest, as we know, is history. And now, about 25 years after the incident, N...Read More
Before it became the streaming giant that it is today, Netflix was a DVD rental business founded in 1997. Just a year later, e-commerce behemoth Amazon was interested in acquiring it. But things did not go as per Amazon's plan.
In 1998, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos offered $15 million for Netflix, which was then just a one-year-old company. But surprisingly, Netflix co-founders Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings turned down his offer, and the rest, as we know, is history.
And now, about 25 years after the incident, Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph tweeted about the reasons for turning down Amazon¡¯s mega offer in 1998.
Netflix Co-Founder Recalls Rejecting Amazon's $15 Million Offer
getty
25 years ago, In 1998, Reed and I flew to Seattle to talk about selling Netflix to Amazon. The meeting went well, and Jeff Bezos floated a price of $15 million.
¡ª Marc Randolph (@mbrandolph) April 13, 2023
That wouldn¡¯t have been a bad payday for less than 12 months work, but we thought we were on to something. We had¡
¡°25 years ago, in 1998, Reed and I flew to Seattle to talk about selling Netflix to Amazon. The meeting went well, and Jeff Bezos floated a price of $15 million,¡± tweeted Randolph, who was Netflix's first CEO as well.
He explained that even though talks with Amazon went well, the meeting made him and his business partner, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, realise that they were not yet ready to put their startup in the hands of somebody else.
"That wouldn¡¯t have been a bad payday for less than 12 months work, but we thought we were on to something. We had finally gotten the engine to turn over so we weren¡¯t quite ready to put it in park and hand someone else the keys. Looking back, I know now that this trip was about much more than just selling the company. It turns out that there¡¯s nothing like having the option to get out that reinforces your desire to stay in. For Reed and I, this wasn¡¯t a sales trip. This was a commitment ceremony."
Sharing 1998's Amazon Meeting In Greater Detail
forbes
64-year-old
Randolph
also shared about the incident in greater detail in a LinkedIn post shared yesterday.
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