Former Obama official Susan Rice joins Netflix board of directors
Former top Obama administration official Susan Rice is joining Netflix to serve on its board of directors.
“We are delighted to welcome Ambassador Rice to the Netflix board,” Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings said in a statement. “For decades, she has tackled difficult, complex global issues with intelligence, integrity and insight and we look forward to benefiting from her experience and wisdom.”
Rice, 53, will be adding the Netflix position to her already extensive resume.
She was a former U.S. diplomat and served as national security adviser under President Barack Obama until 2017.
Rice was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations when she became especially controversial in the days after the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya that took the lives of four Americans, including ambassador Chris Stevens.
Rice was strongly criticized for comments she made on several Sunday talk shows, when using intelligence agency "talking points," said the attacks were “spontaneous" referring to protests against a controversial anti-Islam movie and appearing to downplay how the attack came about.
“I am thrilled to be joining the board of directors of Netflix, a cutting-edge company whose leadership, high-quality productions, and unique culture I deeply admire,” Rice said in a statement.
Some conservative online users, however, were not so thrilled, threatening to cancel their Netflix subscriptions in response to Rice's appointment.
Netflix, a powerhouse media streaming company, has seen continual growth in subscriptions and success with their original shows like Stranger Things and House of Cards.
In the next ten years, Netflix will hit 262 million subscriptions, according to Citi Research.
