Leading streaming platform, Netflix is set to reduce its workforce by nearly 1,000 employees, making this its biggest round of layoffs since 2022. Netflix Inc.
is cutting 6% of its global staff, or about 1,000 positions, as the streaming company struggles with slowing growth. The job cuts mainly affect staff in the product, technology, human resources and legal divisions. Employees who are part of the downsizing received notices on Wednesday, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. Netflix last carried out large-scale layoffs in 2022, when it reported a decline in subscribers for the first time in over ten years. Netflix eliminated about 150 positions in May that year and another 300 in June in 2022. Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters are dealing with a declining share price, which has fallen over 30 per cent in six months and more than 40 per cent in a year. Speaking at a Bloomberg event in September, Sarandos said that growth has been slower than he would like Last week, Netflix announced its third-quarter results. Netflix’s viewership rose 2 per cent in the first half of the year to 97 billion hours. Peters and Sarandos said Netflix would continue investing aggressively in areas they identified as having high impact, while making choices about how to allocate resources across the business. They also told employees the company remained on track to meet its full-year earnings forecast. Earlier in its shareholder letter, Netflix said it had launched a partnership with French broadcaster TF1 the previous month, giving subscribers in France access to TF1’s linear channels and on-demand programming within their existing subscriptions. Netflix shares were down less than 1% on Wednesday morning in New York. They have fallen 25% this year, compared with a 13% gain for the S&P 500. Notably, earlier this year Netflix lost out on a bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.
