The story goes that Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings was inspired to start the business after returning a copy of Apollo 13 to a Blockbuster Video way past its due date and getting hit with $40 in late fees. Stung by the charges, he vowed to find a way to get DVDs to customers without charging late fees. Thus the Netflix model was born: Movie fans paid a monthly fee to have a certain number of DVDs at home, which they could keep for as long as they liked, or return them in exchange for a new movie.