Netflix swaps chief marketing execs in rough year
updated 06:20 pm EST, Fri January 20, 2012
Netflix gets new CMO and COO
Netflix on Friday shook up its executive staff in an attempt to control its image. Its 12-year chief marketing officer Leslie Kilgore would join the board as a regular director and was taking on marketing VP Jessie Becker as a temporary replacement. It was also appointing a new COO, former Disney communications head Jonathan Friedland.
All of the new positions will report directly to CEO Reed Hastings. He characterized Kilgore as "instrumental" to the company's recent success, but didn't explain the reasons for the shift.
The changes may be to mend Netflix's bruised image from 2011. Its tandem decisions to raise disc-plus-DVD rates 60 percent and widely attacked, brief attempt to spin DVDs out as Qwikster left some customers burned and a significant amount of Netflix's goodwill spent. Netflix has vowed to be more reactive to demand in the future, but might be keen to change its tone.
