Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings gifts $1.1B in shares to charity

Hastings retains nearly 3M Netflix shares

Netflix co-founder and Executive Chairman Reed Hastings donated 2 million shares valued at $1.1 billion to a California charity.

Hastings parted ways with the Netflix shares he owned through the Hastings-Quillin Family Trust as a gift last week, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed.

Netflix confirmed to FOX Business that the shares were given to Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Reed Hastings

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings at a conference during the Mobile World Congress on Feb. 27, 2017, in Barcelona, Spain. (Joan Cros Garcia/Corbis via / Getty Images)

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After the transaction, Hastings retains nearly 3 million shares in the streaming giant, which he led as CEO for 25 years, not counting options, according to the SEC filing.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
NFLX NETFLIX INC. 561.23 -3.57 -0.63%

The Silicon Valley Community Foundation declined to comment on the donation. The charity, founded in 2007, distributed $2.6 billion in 2022 to support more than 5,000 community organizations.

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Hastings has previously worked with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation on philanthropic efforts related to education, a Facebook post from 2016 showed.

Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings

Reed Hastings attends the Netflix & Mediaset Partnership Announcement, in Rome, on Oct. 8, 2019. (Ernesto S. Ruscio/Netflix / Getty Images)

He and his wife have been signatories of the Giving Pledge since 2012. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, his former wife Melinda French Gates and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett set up the initiative about 14 years ago.

"It’s an honor to be able to try to help our community, our country and our planet through our philanthropy," Hastings and wife Patty Quillan said in their Giving Pledge letter.

Reed Hastings in NYC

Reed Hastings speaks during the New York Times DealBook Summit in the Appel Room at the Jazz At Lincoln Center on Nov. 30, 2022, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images)

His philanthropic efforts have also involved sending charitable contributions to other organizations over the years.

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Hastings' net worth is about $4.1 billion as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Forbes.