Clovis CA from the people, for the people

SAN FRANCISCO

Netflix Inc. delivered its 1 billionth DVD over the weekend, marking another milestone in the Internet rental service's evolution from a peculiar dot-com to a marquee attraction in millions of homes.

It took Netflix nearly 7 1/2 years to mail out 1 billion DVDs -- about seven months less than it took McDonald's Corp. to sell 1 billion hamburgers after opening its first restaurant in April 1955.

To commemorate the occasion, Netflix is awarding a lifetime subscription to the Helotes, Texas, customer who received the 1 billionth DVD shipped from one of the Los Gatos-based company's 42 distribution centers nationwide.