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The Last Human Edge - Colossus

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Henry Ellenbogen called Reed Hastings on a Saturday morning in November 2011 to tell him Netflix might go bankrupt. The company had just executed one of the more spectacular self-immolations in corporate history. Four months earlier, CEO Hastings had announced that Netflix would split its DVD-by-mail and streaming services into separate offerings, raising prices by 60% after one of the worst recessions in memory. 800,000 subscribers canceled. The stock collapsed from $300 to $77. The media called it one of the worst blunders in tech history. Hastings reversed course in October, admitting the changes had been arrogant. Now, in the quiet of a weekend, with markets closed and no one watching, Ellenbogen was about to tell him it might not matter. “Hey, Reed, look, I could be reading this wrong,” Ellenbogen said. “But there is a scenario here where you have to raise money.” “What are you talking about, Henry?” Hastings said. Ellenbogen was 38. A year-and-a-half earlier, he’d been put in cha

The Last Human Edge - Colossus Loading Search Podcasts Invest Like the Best Business Breakdowns Founder’s Field Guide Joys of Compounding Founders 50X Magazine Newsletter About Us Sponsors Subscribe Log in Copyright © 2026 Colossus. All rights reserved. Investor Profile The Last Human Edge In an age of machines, Henry Ellenbogen’s alpha comes from reading people, patterns, and the painful transition where certain companies either compound for life or die trying By Dom Cooke December 2025 Issue 05 PHOTOS BY STEPHEN VOSS Subscribe to print for your office or home. Henry Ellenbogen cal

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