Netflix closes DVD mailing business tomorrow: sending 5.2 billion CDs in 25 years

On the evening of September 28, Beijing time, it was reported that Netflix's once-iconic DVD mailing service was finally coming to an end. Twenty-five years ago, two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs came up with a concept that not only destroyed Blockbuster's video store, but also provided a springboard into the streaming market and ultimately transformed the entertainment industry.

Netflix's long-dwindling DVD mailing service will officially come to an end Friday after five remaining distribution centers in California, Texas, Georgia and New Jersey ship out the last of their discs.

Netflix has shipped more than 5.2 billion DVDs over the past 25 years. Today, the service still has fewer than 1 million subscribers. Tomorrow they will receive the last batch of CDs. At that time, some users will also receive 10 DVDs as a souvenir.

In 2011, Netflix made a key decision to separate its DVD business from its streaming business. Today, Netflix's streaming business has 238 million subscribers and annual revenue of $31.5 billion.

By comparison, the DVD business had revenue of just $146 million last year. In the context of increasingly fierce competition for streaming video, the eventual closure of DVD services is inevitable.

Marc Randolph and co-founder Reed Hastings conceived the service when the DVD format was an emerging technology with only about 300 movies to choose from. At its peak, Netflix had more than 100,000 shows.

Randolph said: "From day one, we knew that DVDs would disappear, and this was a short step. But it miraculously did the job. It was like an unnamed booster rocket that launched Netflix into orbit and fell back to Earth 25 years later. This is really impressive. "