Netflix CFO David Wells To Step Down, Says Company Has “Exciting Growth Plans”

Netflix is on the hunt for a new chief financial officer. The streaming giant announced today that its current CFO, David Wells, will be helping to install his successor before stepping down.

“It’s been 14 wonderful years at Netflix, and I’m very proud of everything we’ve accomplished,” Wells said in the statement. “After discussing my desire to make a change with Reed [Hastings], we agreed that with Netflix’s strong financial position and exciting growth plans, this is the right time for us to help identify the next financial leader for the company.” Wells added that he intends to “focus more on philanthropy” in the next phase of his career.

Co-founder, chairman, and CEO Hastings praised Wells’ handling of finances “during a phase of dramatic growth that has allowed us to create and bring amazing entertainment to our members all over the world while also delivering outstanding returns to our investors.”

Netflix is leaning on those investors as it pushes deeper into original content creation. The company has had an up-and-down year so far financially, adding a large amount of subscribers in its first quarter, only to run headlong into a second quarter that fell short of growth expectations — the company’s first quarter to do so in two years.