They were a tech company of their time: they had an excellent web site, search (and recommendation IIRC) etc, especially compared to most of their contemporaries.
Nowadays I wouldn't consider anyone in the DVD-renting business to be a tech company. I would still consider Netflix a tech business under their current business model.
Note that Netflix is relatively small and not really in control of their fate; they were presumably included in the "FAANG" acronym to make it fun. Now that two of those companies have changed their name it doesn't even fit (A, A, A, M and...N? Not the other M?)
Netflix was included in FAANG because it was a high growth tech stock, growing faster than all the others when it was included. It was the fastest growing stock on the market multiple times in the 2010s and was the fastest growing stock for the entire decade.
"Nowadays I wouldn't consider anyone in the DVD-renting business to be a tech company."
Netflix still rents DVDs.[1]
I actually much prefer their DVD service, because their selection of movies on DVD is infinitely superior to their streaming service, whose selection is absolutely atrocious.
Netflix's streaming service might have world-class delivery, but what they deliver is crap.
Nowadays I wouldn't consider anyone in the DVD-renting business to be a tech company. I would still consider Netflix a tech business under their current business model.
Note that Netflix is relatively small and not really in control of their fate; they were presumably included in the "FAANG" acronym to make it fun. Now that two of those companies have changed their name it doesn't even fit (A, A, A, M and...N? Not the other M?)