Netflix, 2011

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Netflix was launched in 1998 as the world’s first online DVD rental store, primarily as a rival to Blockbuster. It introduced a monthly subscription service in 1999. In 2000, losing money, they received a $50m offer acquisition offer from Blockbuster, which they declined. In 2003 they announced their first profit and, as download and bandwidth speeds began to improve, they slowly moved away from DVD rentals towards online streaming. By 2010 they were the largest source of internet streaming traffic in North America.

By 2014 they had grown to 50m subscribers in 41 countries round the world. From 2012 they began to produce original content and by 2016 they had grown to operate in more than 190 countries worldwide.