In this Feb. 28, 2017, file photo, Netflix Founder and CEO Reed Hastings smiles during an interview in Barcelona, Spain. Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, are donating $120 million toward student scholarships at historically black colleges and universities. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, are donating $120 million toward student scholarships at historically black colleges and universities.
The couple is giving $40 million to each of three institutions: the United Negro College Fund, Spelman College and Morehouse College. The organizations said it is the largest individual gift in support of student scholarships at HBCUs.
Hastings has a history of supporting educational causes, including charter schools. He launched a $100 million education fund in 2016, beginning with money toward college scholarships for black and Latino students.
Hastings said now is the time when "everyone needs to figure out" how to contribute to solving racism. He said HBCUs have been resilient "little-known gems" for black education.
Amid protests over police brutality that began three weeks ago, companies and business leaders have been pledging solidarity with their black employees and the black community. But tech companies — including Netflix — have fallen short in hiring, retaining and promoting underrepresented minorities within their own ranks.
Other tech industry donations in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests have largely been on the company level. Last week, for instance, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the company will spend $100 million on a new Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, investing in education and criminal justice reform among other things. YouTube, meanwhile, pledged $100 million to help black artists and other creators.
Seth Schachner, Managing Director at Strat Americas, talks Disney's taking control of Hulu, Warner Bros. and Discovery's split and how if affects the viewers.
The Tony Awards on Sunday lured 4.85 million viewers to CBS, its largest broadcast audience in six years. CBS says Monday that Nielsen data shows the telecast — hosted by “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo — scored a 38% increase over last year’s 3.53 million viewers. That’s the largest audience for the Tonys since 2019, when the telecast that year nabbed 5.4 million viewers and “Hadestown” was crowned best new musical. The latest version also had to compete with the second game of the NBA Finals, between the Thunder and Pacers,
After stumbling out of the starting gate in Big Tech’s pivotal race to capitalize on artificial intelligence, Apple tried to regain its footing Monday during a developers conference that focused mostly on incremental advances and cosmetic changes in its technology.
Six weeks before UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel last December, Luigi Mangione mused about rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel” and expressed that killing the executive “conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming."
Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson once clashed on the court in the 2001 NBA Finals, but now the basketball legends are joining forces to revive the Reebok brand they helped make iconic.
