Plex

Plex is a multifaceted media platform that uniquely combines personal media organization with a broad streaming service. The company originated from a hobby project started in December 2007 by developer Elan Feingold, who aimed to port the XBMC (now Kodi) media player to Mac OS X. His work attracted the attention of software executives Cayce Ullman and Scott Olechowski, who had recently sold their previous company to Cisco and were pursuing a similar goal. The trio officially teamed up in January 2008, and after forking from the original XBMC project due to different objectives, they renamed their project Plex in July 2008. Plex, Inc. was formally incorporated in December 2009 with Ullman as CEO and Feingold as CTO. Scott Olechowski, an expert in cryptography, shaped the product and business strategy.

The company operates on a freemium business model, generating revenue from multiple streams. Its core product is the Plex Media Server, a free software that allows users to organize their personal media collections—movies, TV shows, music, and photos—and stream them to any device. The primary revenue source is the Plex Pass, a premium subscription service offering advanced features like offline syncing (Mobile Sync), live TV and DVR capabilities, and enhanced music features. Plex has also built a significant advertising business, which now accounts for a larger portion of revenue than subscriptions. This comes from its ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) service, launched in 2019, which provides thousands of free movies, TV shows, and over 600 live TV channels in partnership with studios like Warner Bros., MGM, and Lionsgate. A movie and TV show rental marketplace was introduced in early 2024, adding a transactional (TVOD) layer to its model.

Headquartered in Campbell, California, Plex serves a global user base of over 25 million people. The company has successfully raised $132 million in funding over eight rounds, with significant investments from firms like Kleiner Perkins and Intercap. Its latest funding was a $40 million Series C round in January 2024. Since 2013, the company has been led by CEO Keith Valory, a veteran of Cisco and IronPort Systems. Plex has evolved from a tool for media enthusiasts into a comprehensive streaming destination, competing in the FAST (Free Ad-Supported TV) market while maintaining its powerful personal media management capabilities. Keywords: personal media server, streaming service, Plex Pass, ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD), live TV streaming, freemium model, media organization, Elan Feingold, Scott Olechowski, Cayce Ullman, Plex Media Server, FAST channels, video streaming, movie rentals, TVOD, home media library, digital video recorder (DVR), cross-device streaming, media management software, streaming platform