Earnings calls are meant to be somber affairs where the financial performance of a company is dissected by analysts, but nobody bothered telling Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.
During Netflix’s Q4 2013 earnings call, Hastings delivered what would become one of the most memorable moments in corporate communications history. When asked about HBO CEO Richard Plepler’s recent comments dismissing password sharing as a non-issue, Hastings didn’t just disagree—he went nuclear with a joke that left interviewers speechless before breaking out into laughter. The exchange revealed not just Hastings’ irreverent sense of humor, but also the simmering tension between two entertainment giants locked in an increasingly direct battle for streaming supremacy.
The moment came when an interviewer referenced Plepler’s dismissive stance on password sharing. HBO’s CEO had suggested that users sharing passwords would eventually mature financially and subscribe on their own. It was a comment dripping with the confidence of a legacy entertainment company that still viewed itself as untouchable.
Hastings’ response was swift and savage. “That was an interesting comment, I suppose,” he began, with the kind of measured tone that suggested something delicious was coming. “I guess Plepler is the CEO of HBO, and he doesn’t mind me sharing his account information. So it’s [email protected] and his password is Netflix Bitch.”
The interviewers burst out laughing, seemingly at a loss for words as they processed what had just happened. A Fortune 500 CEO had just publicly roasted a competitor’s executive with a joke so audacious it would have been unthinkable in the buttoned-up corporate culture of previous decades.
The comment wasn’t just a punchline—it was a declaration of war wrapped in humor. By 2013, Netflix had already begun its transformation from DVD rental service to streaming powerhouse, with “House of Cards” proving that the company could produce prestige content to rival HBO’s crown jewels. Hastings’ joke underscored a broader message: Netflix wasn’t intimidated by HBO’s legacy or pedigree. The streaming upstart was coming for the throne, and it had the confidence to mock the king.
The password sharing issue itself would prove prophetic. While Plepler dismissed it as inconsequential in 2013, password sharing would become a multi-billion dollar concern for streaming services over the next decade. By 2023, Netflix would reverse course entirely, implementing a crackdown on password sharing that forced millions of users to create their own paid accounts. The move, while initially controversial, added millions of new subscribers and proved that the “borrowers” Plepler assumed would eventually pay were perfectly content to share indefinitely. HBO Max (later rebranded as Max) would face similar challenges, ultimately implementing its own restrictions on password sharing in 2024.
Hastings’ barb also captured a cultural moment when streaming was disrupting traditional television. HBO had long been the gold standard for premium content, commanding respect and premium prices. But Netflix represented something new: a tech-forward, data-driven approach to entertainment that threatened to make cable bundles and linear television obsolete. The joke wasn’t just about passwords—it was about which company understood the future of media. With the benefit of hindsight, Hastings clearly saw something Plepler missed: that the streaming wars would be won not by legacy prestige, but by scale, technology, and the willingness to adapt ruthlessly to changing consumer behavior.