LONDON: Netflix Inc. said on Wednesday it has hired a former Facebook executive to lead its video games unit as the company ramps up its efforts to grow beyond its traditional streaming business.
The streaming giant hired Mike Verdu, who was most recently a Facebook vice president, as VP of game development and he will report to Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters.
Verdu founded his own defense software company at age 20 and sold it before shifting his team into video games in 1990.
He has been there ever since, working at Atari, Electronic Arts, Kabam and other developers and overseeing games including “Lord of the Rings.”
Netflix’s expansion comes at a time when the company is looking at new ways to draw in subscribers in an attempt to stave off fierce competition from the likes of Disney+, Apple TV+ and AT&T’s HBO Max.
Netflix has previously experimented with interactive programming with movies such as “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” and “You vs. Wild” that enabled viewers to decide the characters’ moves.
It has also created games based on shows “Stranger Things” and “La casa de Papel (Money Heist)” and recently launched an online store to sell merchandise related to its TV shows.
Netflix hires former Facebook exec as gaming VP to focus beyond films, shows
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Netflix hires former Facebook exec as gaming VP to focus beyond films, shows
- Netflix hires former Facebook executive, Mike Verdu, to lead its video games unit as the platform widens its scope and enters the gaming market
Israeli court overturns conviction of officer who assaulted Palestinian journalist, citing ‘Oct. 7 PTSD’
- Judge sentenced Yitzhak Sofer to 300 hours of community service, saying officer “devoted his life to Israel’s security” and conviction was “disproportionate to severity of his actions”
- Footage shows Sofer throwing photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf to the ground, and repeatedly beating and kicking him while he covered Palestinian gatherings near Al-Aqsa Mosque
LONDON: An Israeli court overturned the conviction of a border police officer who assaulted a Palestinian journalist, ruling his actions were influenced by post-traumatic stress disorder from serving during the Oct. 7 2023 attacks.
On Tuesday, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court sentenced officer Yitzhak Sofer to 300 hours of community service for assaulting Anadolu Agency photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf in occupied East Jerusalem in December 2023.
Footage shows Sofer and other officers drawing weapons, throwing Alkharouf to the ground, and repeatedly beating and kicking him while he covered Palestinian gatherings near Al-Aqsa Mosque amid heavy restrictions.
Alkharouf was hospitalized with facial and body injuries. His cameraman, Faiz Abu Ramila, was also attacked.
Anadolu photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf violently attacked by Israeli army in occupied East Jerusalem while covering Palestinian prayers near Al-Aqsa Mosque
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) December 15, 2023
Incident highlights ongoing restrictions on Friday prayers and press freedom in region https://t.co/exT6XqjEaA pic.twitter.com/pqugK9HnOt
Sofer had been convicted in September 2024 of assault causing bodily harm (acquitted of threats) and initially faced six months’ community service, as recommended by Mahash, the Justice Ministry’s police misconduct unit.
Judge Amir Shaked accepted the defense request to cancel the conviction, replacing it with community service.
He cited Sofer’s PTSD from responding to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, noting the officer had “no prior criminal record” and had “devoted his life to Israel’s security.”
“The court cannot ignore this when considering whether the defendant’s conviction should stand,” he said, adding that while the incident is “serious and does cross the criminal threshold,” the conviction in place could cause Sofer harm “disproportionate to the severity of his actions.”
The ruling comes amid surging attacks on journalists in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza since Israel’s war on Gaza began.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reported Israel responsible for two-thirds of the 129 media workers killed worldwide in 2025, the deadliest year on record, citing a “persistent culture of impunity” and lack of transparent probes.
Reporters Without Borders called the Israeli army the “worst enemy of journalists” in its 2025 report, with nearly half of global reporter deaths in Gaza.
Foreign journalists face raids, arrests and intimidation. In late January 2026, Israel’s Supreme Court granted a delay on ruling a ban on foreign media access to Gaza.
