Netflix to exit the DVD delivery business after 25 years

After 25 years of revolutionising at-home TV viewing, Netflix Inc. is ending its original business of delivering DVDs. According to a statement released on Tuesday, the company will ship its last discs on September 29.

Co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos said, “Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members, but as the business continues to shrink that’s going to become increasingly difficult.”

Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph, the company’s co-founders, came up with the idea, and for the tens of millions of users who received the red envelopes with the Discs in the mail, it became a ritual. The DVD era saw the creation of some of the company’s early original productions.

In 2007, the company debuted its streaming operation, resulting in the downfall of Blockbuster Entertainment, the largest DVD rental chain. The iconic horror-comedy Beetlejuice was the first DVD that Netflix ever distributed.

More than 5.2 billion Disks have been sent out since then. The Sandra Bullock sports drama The Blind Side was its most well-known title.