Book Review: Netflixed, The Epic Battle for America's Eyeballs by Gina Keating

http://www.netflixed.com/

I had a lot of misconceptions on the origins of Netflix before reading this book (that the idea of mail-order DVDs came to Reed Hastings when the local Blockbuster store levied a big late fee for his DVD rentals). Gina Keatings book, Netflixed, not only clears up those myths but also goes into great detail on how the other founder Marc Randolph started the mail order business with Reed Hastings playing second fiddle before he took it over and pushed out Marc from the company. She also portrays an intriguing behind the scenes story on how Netflix almost didn't make it to primetime America. For those of you who didn't follow their rise all along, you will be intrigued to know that Blockbuster Online (yes, Blockbuster!) almost killed Netflix if not for the short-sightedness of that famous investor, Carl Icahn. This book mainly covers the business side of the rise of Netflix; for those of you wanting to understand the technology side of Netflix you will have to look elsewhere. This one is a must read.

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