1998: Netflix launches a DVD-by-mail rental service. That same year, Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos offers to buy the company. Charles Krupa/AP In his book "That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea," Randolph wrote that he and Hastings met with Bezos in 1998, who offered them "probably something between $14 million and $16 million," Randolph wrote. But they turned down the offer. ...