While Its Streaming Service Booms, Netflix Streamlines Old Business; New York Times, 7/26/15

Emily Steel, New York Times; While Its Streaming Service Booms, Netflix Streamlines Old Business:

"“Embrace change — that’s what I’ve learned here at Netflix,” Mr. Breeggemann said. “If you don’t like change, this is the wrong place. Something is going to change every single day.”

If anything, the Netflix story is one of perpetual change. The software executives Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph founded Netflix in 1997 to offer online movie rentals by mail. Netflix introduced streaming in 2007 and plans to be fully global by 2017.

Netflix’s transformation has been rocky at times, but its evolution has become an example of how companies can adapt, tapping their legacy businesses to fuel growth in new areas as the ground underneath them shifts.

Executives said the process was challenging and required juggling two distinct cultures, one with fast-paced growth and the other in long-term decline, as well as managing intense pressure from investors and investing in new initiatives, many of which did not work."