In 2023, Netflix generated $33.64 billion in revenue from streaming services and about $83 million from DVD rentals. Thus, over 99.% of Netflix’s revenue came from streaming. While the remaining, about came from DVD. Why does Netflix still report revenue from DVD rental? Before becoming a streaming service, Netflix was a DVD service company; thus, a tiny chunk of revenue still comes from DVDs.
Updated 6 October 2026: we refreshed 6 figures on this page, now taken from SEC EDGAR filings. Anything we could not check against a current source keeps its original year, so you can see how old it is.
Latest figures · checked 6 October 2026
In fiscal 2025, Netflix’s revenue by region (in thousands) was UCAN $19,957,152, EMEA $14,514,646, LATAM $5,357,521 and APAC $5,353,717. SEC EDGAR filings
Netflix’s Q2 2026 revenue was $12.6B, up 13% year over year (+12% on an F/X-neutral basis). SEC EDGAR filings
In July 2026 Netflix narrowed its 2026 revenue forecast to $51.0-$51.4B, or 13%-14% growth, with ads revenue projected at approximately $3 billion. SEC EDGAR filings
Netflix said it crossed 325M paid memberships during Q4 2025, when its revenue grew 18% year over year. SEC EDGAR filings
As of December 31, 2025, Netflix had approximately 16,000 full-time employees. SEC EDGAR filings
Key Facts
Founder
Marc Randolph & Reed Hastings
Year & Place Founded
August 29, 1997, Scotts Valley, California
Initial Business Model
Sold DVD by mail, with a subscription business model
Year of IPO
5/23/2002
IPO Price
$15.00
Total Revenues at IPO
$75.9 million in 2001, before the IPO
Business Model Change
Fully transitioned to streaming in 2008
Total Revenues in 2023
$33.72 Billion
Netflix Employees
As of December 31, 2025, Netflix had approximately 16,000 full-time employees, approximately 10,900 (68%) of them located in the United States and Canada
Revenues per Employee
$2.62 Million (2022)
Who owns Netflix?
The main individual owner is co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings, with 1.79% of the company’s stock
Founded on August 29, 1997, in Scotts Valley, California, the company was founded by Marc Randolph & Reed Hastings, and it IPOed in May 2002 for $15 per share. Netflix generated $75.9 million in 2001, before the IPO and before it rolled out its streaming service businessmodel. Indeed, the company Fully transitioned to streaming in 2008, and by 2023 it generated $33.72 Billion, over 99% coming from streaming services. As of 2023, Netflix has 13,000 full-time employees, thus generating $2.62 million per employee (2022). The main individual owner is co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings, with 1.79% of the company’s stock, making him a billionaire.
Netflix started as a DVD rental business back in the day.
How we source: figures on this page come from the company’s own filings (SEC 10-K, 10-Q and earnings releases, or its annual report), with the period stated next to each number. Last refreshed October 2026. Our methodology.
A 3-minute explainer of Netflix's business model and latest numbers, built from its SEC filings. Analysis by The Business Engineer.
However, the company understood from the early days that the market was transitioning from DVD to the Internet as it went through its IPO in the early 2000s.
To something that would have displaced entirely the underlying technology (DVD) that Netflix was using at the core of its businessmodel.
Key numbersChecked 6 October 2026
$19,957,152,In fiscal 2025, Netflix's revenue by region (in thousands) was UCAN $19,957,152, EMEA $14,514,646, LATAMโฆSEC EDGAR filings
$12.6BNetflix's Q2 2026 revenue was $12.6B, up 13% year over year (+12% on an F/X-neutral basis).SEC EDGAR filings
$51.0In July 2026 Netflix narrowed its 2026 revenue forecast to $51.0-$51.4B, or 13%-14% growth, with adsโฆSEC EDGAR filings
18%Netflix said it crossed 325M paid memberships during Q4 2025, when its revenue grew 18% year over year.SEC EDGAR filings
In one lineEMEA $12.5B (32%) LATAM: $4.8B (12%) APAC: $5.7B (15%) 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Netflix reached 300M+ paid subscribers in 2024, with the ad-supported tier growing rapidly after launch in Nov 2022.
FourWeekMBABusiness EngineerAt a glance
In 2023, Netflix generated $33.64 billion in revenue from streaming services and about $83 million from DVD rentals.
In fiscal 2025, Netflix's revenue by region (in thousands) was UCAN $19,957,152, EMEA $14,514,646, LATAM $5,357,521 and APAC $5,353,717.
Netflix's Q2 2026 revenue was $12.6B, up 13% year over year (+12% on an F/X-neutral basis).
The main individual owner is co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings, with 1.79% of the company's stock
Layout and figures refreshed 6 October 2026. Sources are listed at the end of the article.
Why it mattersFrom the article
The interesting part is that as soon as streaming became commercially viable, Netflix successfully transitioned to a streaming model by redefining it via binge-watching.
Another important change was the transition from the aggregator (a company primarily distributing other people's/networks content) to becoming one of the most important producers in the world (today, most of the shows and series on Netflix are produced by the company).
The interesting part is that as soon as streaming became commercially viable, Netflix successfully transitioned to a streaming model by redefining it via binge-watching.
Binge-watching is the practice of watching TV series all at once. In a speech at the Edinburgh Television Festival in 2013, Kevin Spacey said: “If they want to binge then we should let them binge.” This new content format would be popularized by Netflix, launching its TV series all at once.
Another important change was the transition from the aggregator (a company primarily distributing other people’s/networks content) to becoming one of the most important producers in the world (today, most of the shows and series on Netflix are produced by the company).
Netflix generates over 99.5% of its revenue from streaming. While the remaining, about 0.5%, comes from DVD. Indeed, before becoming a streaming service, Netflix was a DVD service company; thus, a tiny chunk of revenue still comes from DVDs.
Now, another core change is going on in the next ten years, which is a business model change.
Netflix is expanding its business model to advertising to scale to a billion members worldwide.
And it’s once again refining its model to go beyond TV series as competition has arisen in the last years.
In 2022, The Walt Disney Company’s total paid subscriber base was larger than Netlfix, with over 235 million paid members, compared with Netflix’s over 230 million members. However, Disney’s offering is fragmented among Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu, compared with Netflix, which has a single offering.
Netflix turns $12.6B of quarterly revenue into $4.2B of operating profit. Source: Netflix Q2 2026 shareholder letter (Form 8-K, SEC). Costs calculated; cost of revenues is mainly content amortisation per Netflix's filings. Analysis by The Business Engineer.
Netflix is a subscription-based business model making money with three simple plans: basic, standard, and premium, giving access to stream series, movies, and shows. Leveraging on a streaming platform, Netflix generated over $33.7 billion in 2023, with an operating income of over $6.95 billion and a net income of over $5.4 billion. Starting in 2013, Netflix started to develop its content under the Netflix Originals brand, which today represents the most important strategic asset for the company that, in 2023, counted over 260 million paying members worldwide.
Binge-watching is the practice of watching TV series all at once. In a speech at the Edinburgh Television Festival in 2013, Kevin Spacey said: “If they want to binge then we should let them binge.” This new content format would be popularized by Netflix, launching its TV series all at once.
Coopetition describes a recently modern phenomenon where organizations both compete and cooperate, which is also known as cooperative competition. A recent example is how the Netflix streaming platform has been among the major customers of Amazon AWS cloud infrastructure, while Amazon Prime has been among the competitors of the Netflix Prime content platform.
Netflix SWOT: global scale and 29% margins, against a slowing home market and the fight for viewing time. Source: Netflix Form 10-K (SEC XBRL) and shareholder letters Q4 2025โQ2 2026 (Form 8-K, SEC); quotes from the letters. Framework: FourWeekMBA / The Business Engineer. Analysis by The Business Engineer.
Netflix’s largest individual shareholder is Reed Hastings, co-founder, and former CEO of the company, now Chairperson of Netflix, with a 1.76% stake, valued at over $4.5 billion as of January 2024. Other significant individual shareholders comprise Jay C. Hoag, the company’s directors since 1999, and Ted Sarandos, former chief content officer and now Chief Executive Officer of Netflix. Major institutional shareholders comprise The Vanguard Group (7.99% ownership), BlackRock (6.24% ownership), and FMR (5.35% ownership).
In 2023 Netflix had over 260 million paid subscribers. In 2022, Netflix had 230 million paid subscribers and almost 222 million paid subscribers in 2021.
Netflix reported an average yearly revenue per subscriber of $139.68 in 2023, compared to $141.12 in 2022. Thus, Netflix had an average revenue per subscriber of $120 in 2019 (pre-COVID) and $139.68 by 2023.
In 2023, Netflix reported an average monthly revenue per subscriber of $16.28 in the US & Canada, $10.87 in EMEA, $7.64 in APAC, and $8.66 in the LATAM region. Thus, the US & Canada reported the highest average monthly revenue per subscriber of $16.28.
In 2022, The Walt Disney Company’s total paid subscriber base was larger than Netlfix, with over 235 million paid members, compared with Netflix’s over 230 million members. However, Disney’s offering is fragmented among Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu, compared with Netflix, which has a single offering.
Outside the US and Canada, Netflix now makes 57% of its revenue. Source: Netflix shareholder letters (Form 8-K, SEC EDGAR) (regional breakdown tables); regions sum to reported revenue. Analysis by The Business Engineer.Netflix's operating margin rose from 4% in 2016 to 29% in 2025. Source: Netflix Form 10-K filings via SEC EDGAR XBRL company facts. Margins calculated. Analysis by The Business Engineer.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
