WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Reed Hastings, a major Democratic Party donor and a co-founder of streaming platform Netflix, has called for Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden to step aside as a presidential candidate following his debate performance last week, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

"Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous," he was quoted as saying by the newspaper in an email to them.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese)