Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings has gifted two million shares of his holdings in the streaming giant, according to a regulatory filing. The current value of Reed Hastings Netflix shares is more than $1.1 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings net worth is $6.6 billion, A significant portion of Reed Hastings net worth is Netflix shares.
Reed Hastings Netflix shares gift, about 40% of his direct holdings, was made to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Reed Hastings gift for education
Hastings on Jan 24 disposed of 2 million Netflix shares, which were given as a gift to an unidentified entity, per an SEC filing. The transaction code on the statement of change in beneficial ownership was marked “G,” indicating a “bona fide gift,” per the SEC.
“We don’t know what it could be, whether it’s a charity or multiple charities,” as per VerityData Vice President Ben Silverman. “There’s always a possibility that they’re shifting the stock somewhere else, for example to a trust where they don’t have control or are not a beneficiary.”
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
The recipient of the shares was not disclosed. According to a source familiar with the transaction, Hastings granted the 2 million shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a charitable foundation that says it works to “bridge critical gaps and divisions to deliver strategies that reduce systemic inequities” in the Bay Area.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings
Though Hastings remains the executive chairman of Netflix, the company has no obligation to disclose the reason behind the gift or the beneficiary. Netflix shares are up nearly 23% year to date but are still around 16% below their 2021 high.
Through his family trust, Hastings still owns 2.99 million Netflix shares, which are worth about $1.72 billion, in addition to several million stock options. Prior to the recent stock transaction, Hastings had an estimated net worth of about $6.6 billion, mostly tied to his holdings in Netflix stock and options, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Given his long tenure at Netflix, he also has several tranches of options that he has historically sold at a steady clip. Those sales have netted him around $2 billion.
Hastings became executive chairman of Netflix in 2023, stepping down as CEO one year ago after serving in the role for 25 years. Currently, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters serve as co-CEOs of the streaming giant.
Hastings’s philanthropy
Hastings has a long track record as an educational philanthropist. In 2020, Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, gave $120 million to Spelman College, Morehouse College and the United Negro College Fund for scholarships to historically Black colleges and universities. Last year, Hastings donated $20 million to Minerva University, styled as a next-generation institution of higher education. Hastings and Quillin also donated $10 million to Tougaloo College, an HBCU in Mississippi, and the couple have supported the KIPP Foundation, which runs a national network of tuition-free charter schools serving low-income communities of color.
