Netflix Cuts 1,000 Jobs, Including Key Executives
Puck had the scoop before the layoffs happened, reporting on October 9 that Netflix was planning to cut about 5% of staff. Puck explained the likely reasoning:
Netflix does restructurings periodically, though its last big public layoff was in 2022, amid the Great Netflix Correction and a period of slowing growth, and that reduction hit only about 150 employees, or about 2 percent of the workforce. The company’s share price has been under pressure since last year’s failed bid for Warner Bros. and amid slowing engagement growth on the platform.
On the 14th, The Wall Street Journal reported that “the bulk of the cuts would be in the streaming giant’s product, tech, legal and human-resources teams:”
Netflix, confronting flagging engagement, has tried a number of ways to get subscribers to spend more time on its platform, including adding live channels of programming, as well as bundling with other streaming services. It has added video podcasts and YouTube creators’ shows to its service, as well as live sports and events.
While its rate of customer defections is by far the best in the industry at just over 2% in the U.S., according to Antenna, shares have fallen more than 40% over the past 12 months.
Netflix isn’t alone among tech and entertainment companies making cuts. Disney and Amazon.com have both significantly reduced head count in the past several months.
CNBC reported that “Netflix’s biggest threat has been YouTube, but looming on the horizon is Skydance. The combined entity of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery has plans to integrate the two companies’ streaming platforms, Paramount+ and HBO Max.”
The September 10 Nielsen US TV viewership numbers, which cover July, show why Netflix was feeling stressed, with YouTube way out in front and a combined Paramount/WBD poised to jump ahead, leaving Netflix in fifth place:
Matt Belloni of Puck has this chart about length of executive tenure at various media companies:
