Netflix CEO Reed Hastings realizes $5.3-million profit in stock sale

Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings realized a $5.3-million profit from a post-Christmas stock sale, according to a new regulatory filing.

Hastings acquired more than 15,238 shares for $417,750 on Dec. 26, which he sold for nearly $5.8 million that same day, according to a filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such sales are made as part of a predetermined stock sale program, which triggers when the company’s stock hits a certain price.

Netflix has been one of the top stock performers of the year, up nearly 300% in 2013 as investors found new enthusiasm for the streaming television and movie service.

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After a series of missteps in 2011 sank the stock, Netflix has been regaining its luster on Wall Street -- ending the year with a record 40 million subscribers and collecting Emmy recognition for one of its high-profile original series, the political drama “House of Cards.”

The company also threw off a “poison pill” provision it had adopted to prevent a hostile takeover. The stockholder rights provision, which was instituted after activist investor Carl Icahn acquired a 10% stake in Netflix, originally was set to expire in November 2015.

Icahn sold his stake in the company in October, walking away with an $800-million profit -- and thanking Hastings and the rest of the Netflix team for “a job well done.” And Netflix announced that it would allow the poision pill to expire Dec. 30.

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