Book: Netflix CEO Tried to Sell Out To Amazon, Blockbuster

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings tried to sell his company to Amazon.com and to Blockbuster, according to a new book.

Amazon offered Hastings $12 million for the company in 1998, and then Hastings tried to sell the company to Blockbuster for $50 million in 2000, according to "Netflixed: The Battle for America's Eyeballs," by Gina Keating.

The tables eventually turned when Netflix then offered Blockbuster $600 million for the rights to buy its 3 million Internet subscribers, according to the book.

The book details how the video-subscription service blossomed from an attempt to see if CDs could be sent through the mail to the global phenomenon with 30 million subscribers it is today, according to the Associated Press.

Keating, in interviews, praised Hastings as a genius for founding the company. Hastings has at times faced criticism, however, for allowing stock prices to dive 75 percent since an aborted attempt last year to divide the DVD mailorder and online streaming functions of the company.