The Return

Reed Hastings founded Netflix after returning a Blockbuster tape and being charged a late fee. The late fee was, depending on which interview you read, forty dollars, or possibly more. It was enough.

The founding principle was: no late fees. You keep the movie as long as you want. We are not charging you for past decisions. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in 2010. The company that survived on late fees did not survive the company that was founded to eliminate them.

This week, Reed Hastings issued a furious statement (the headline used the word "furious") and clawed back one million dollars from Matt Mahan's campaign for governor of California.

He is describing this as different from a late fee.

The late fee was for returning something late. The clawback is for returning something he now considers a mistake. In both cases, someone is being charged for a decision made in the past. Reed Hastings has been thinking about this distinction for twenty-nine years. He appears to have resolved it in his favor.

Matt Mahan has not commented. The one million dollars has been returned.