Netflix cuts top execs’ salaries

Netflix has ended 2014 by slashing the salary of CEO Reed Hastings by US$2m, according to a US regulatory filing.

Reed Hastings

The video streaming giant has cut the base pay for Hastings from US$3m to US$1m, just a year after upping his salary from US$2m to US$3m.

The move, which takes effect in 2015, comes as shares of Netflix fell by 9% this year after a colossal rise of 297% in 2013.

Chief content officer Ted Sarandos is also taking a pay cut to US$1m. A year ago, he got a boost from US$2.2m to US$2.8m.

Ted Sarandos

However, both executives, who have become synonymous with the SVoD service in the media this year, have the opportunity to earn far more than their base salary through total compensation pay.

Hastings will receive an annual stock option allowance of US$13.7m while Sarandos gets US$9.6m. According to the filing, Sarandos also has an estimated target bonus of US$2m.

Yesterday, C21 revealed Netflix is reviving Danish dramedy Rita with original broadcaster TV2 and support from the Copenhagen Film Fund.

The Californian firm ended a year in which it expanded across Europe and Australasia and boosted its Originals output, by winning a long-running patent infringement battle with video-on-demand software provider OpenTV in the Netherlands.

Dish Network also became the first major US pay TV provider to integrate Netflix into its set-top boxes.