Netflix’s wild ride

$Netflix(NFLX.US)$ gave markets a lot to chew over when it reported quarterly earnings after the bell Wednesday. First up, the streaming giant said Reed Hastings, who helped establish the then-DVD-rental-by-mail company in 1997, would leave his co-CEO role and become executive chairman. Operating chief Greg Peters now joins Ted Sarandos as co-CEO. Netflix also reported about 7.7 million new subscribers in the most recent quarter, easily topping Wall Street’s expectations of about 4.6 million. Once upon a time, this might have been bad news for Netflix’s streaming rivals. But, as CNBC’s Alex Sherman points out, all streamers are effectively united against a common enemy: slowing growth. A good quarter for Netflix could bode well for the others.