Netflix to cut about 1,000 jobs, its largest layoffs since 2022

Netflix is cutting about 1,000 jobs, around 6% of its workforce. It is the company's largest round of layoffs since 2022. The BBC, Reuters and the Guardian all reported the cuts.

Co-chief executives Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos told employees about the cuts in an email, according to the BBC and the Guardian. According to the email, the cuts will mainly affect the human resources, legal, product and technology teams. The email also says the company is on track to meet its financial forecast.

The memo was sent on Wednesday, according to the Guardian. The Guardian said The Wall Street Journal was the first to report it. The Wall Street Journal report was not among the reports reviewed by Vocemundi. According to the BBC, managers will tell employees "soon" whether their job has been cut. The reports do not describe which countries or offices are affected. They also do not include severance terms or an exact timeline.

Netflix's last major round of layoffs was in 2022. It cut about 450 jobs after losing subscribers for the first time in more than a decade. According to the Guardian, those layoffs came in two rounds.

Netflix pursued a deal for Warner Bros assets but did not secure it. Paramount instead reached a $110bn deal for Warner Bros. The BBC reported that Netflix was outbid by Paramount. According to the Guardian, Netflix pursued the streaming and studio assets of Warner Bros Discovery earlier this year, and Paramount completed its acquisition earlier this month.

Netflix has been trying to expand beyond its core subscription business, including through gaming and advertising. The Guardian said these efforts have also included live programming.

According to the Guardian, Netflix had about 16,000 employees at the end of last year. The reports do not give a current headcount. The Guardian also reported that Netflix shares are down about 25% so far this year and rose 0.7% on Wednesday. Netflix is due to report its latest results on 20 October, according to the BBC.

What is disputed

The reports reviewed by Vocemundi do not show any factual dispute about the cuts. The BBC and the Guardian quote analyst Ross Benes with minor wording differences. The reports also do not show Netflix itself linking the cuts to competition or to the Warner Bros pursuit. That connection is made by the outlets, not in the quoted memo.

What each side says

In the email, quoted by the BBC, Peters and Sarandos wrote: "Our mission - to entertain the world - is ambitious, and delivering on it requires us to be disciplined about where we prioritise our people and resources." They said the company would "continue to invest aggressively in high-impact areas to improve our service and further drive growth and innovation", according to the BBC. The Guardian quoted the memo as saying: "Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full-year forecast."

Last month, at the Bloomberg Screentime summit, Sarandos said the company was "not growing as fast as I want us to", according to the BBC.

Ross Benes, a senior analyst at eMarketer, said Netflix has not found another major revenue line. The BBC quoted him as saying: "they haven't been able to find another line of major revenue". He said the subscription business may be nearing a ceiling and that Netflix will eventually need another revenue stream to diversify.

Analysis

The cuts combine two messages. Netflix's leadership describes the business as strong and on track to meet its forecast. At the same time, it is reducing about 6% of staff and stressing discipline in how it uses resources. Readers may weigh these signals differently. One reading is a cost-focused reorganisation by a company whose leadership says its business is strong and growing. Another, raised by analyst Ross Benes, is concern about growth limits in subscriptions. The reports do not show Netflix linking the cuts to the Warner Bros outcome. The results due on 20 October may give more detail on the company's priorities and finances.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.