Netflix told employees on Wednesday that it will let go of roughly 6 percent of its staff, close to 1,000 positions, in its largest round of job cuts in years. The announcement arrives less than a week before the company reports third-quarter results and at a moment when the world’s biggest subscription streamer is under pressure to prove it can keep growing.
The news came in a memo from co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos, first reported by The Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by Netflix to TechCrunch. The executives wrote that the company is making a number of organizational changes and that the greatest impact will fall on its product, technology, legal and human resources teams. “Decisions like these are never easy, and we don’t take them lightly,” the memo said, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press. Netflix declined to comment beyond the memo. The company had about 16,000 full-time employees at the end of 2025, according to its annual filing, which is the basis for the 6 percent figure.
Netflix framed the move as a reallocation rather than a retreat. The co-CEOs said the business remains strong and that the company will keep investing aggressively in high-impact areas to improve its service and drive growth, while being disciplined about where it puts its people and resources. Netflix also told TechCrunch it is on track to deliver its full-year forecast. That message is aimed squarely at investors, who will get a fresh look at the numbers when the company reports third-quarter earnings on 20 October after the market closes.
The layoffs did not come entirely as a surprise. On 9 October, Puck News reported that Netflix was preparing to cut about 5 percent of its workforce, which it estimated at roughly 850 jobs, and that an announcement could come as early as this week. Netflix declined to comment at the time. The final figure turned out to be slightly larger than that early estimate, a difference that comes partly from which headcount number is used as the base. The cuts are also the biggest at Netflix since 2022, when the company laid off about 150 people in May and another 300 in June after reporting its first subscriber loss in more than a decade. Netflix has mostly avoided large-scale reductions since then, though it has trimmed individual teams, including several dozen roles in its global product group earlier this year.
The background to Wednesday’s decision is a company that is still growing but not as quickly as its leaders want. Netflix reported second-quarter revenue of about $12.6 billion, up 13 percent from a year earlier. Yet shares fell sharply in after-hours trading following that report in July, and the stock was reported to be down roughly 20 percent for the year before this week’s announcement. Variety noted that investors have been concerned about slowing per-user engagement in the first half of 2026, and other reports put growth in viewing hours at just 2 percent year over year for that period. Sarandos acknowledged the pressure at a Bloomberg event this month, saying the company is not growing as fast as he would like.
Competition is a large part of the explanation. News agency reports point to the rise of YouTube, which has been taking a growing share of viewers’ time and of advertising spending, and to consolidation among traditional media companies. Netflix also lost a long bidding war earlier this year for the streaming and studio businesses of Warner Bros. Discovery, which went to Paramount Skydance, according to TechCrunch. The deal would have given Netflix a deep library that includes HBO. Instead, Netflix is left to build growth from its own assets, which now extend well beyond the original subscription model into advertising, live programming and gaming. Those newer businesses take investment before they take off, and cutting costs elsewhere is one way to fund them.
The layoffs also fit a wider pattern in the technology and media industries this year. A report published in May estimated that more than 80,000 jobs had already been cut in the first quarter of 2026, with companies such as Oracle, Amazon and Meta leading the way. Oracle’s own filings show its headcount fell by about 21,000, or 13 percent, in the fiscal year that ended on 31 May. For Netflix, the difference is that the cuts follow a period of hiring. One report said the company added roughly 2,000 full-time employees during 2025, which suggests the company is now recalibrating after expanding, rather than responding to a sudden collapse in business.
There is still a lot that Netflix has not said. The memo and the confirmations so far do not detail how many of the affected roles are in the United States and how many are overseas, what severance employees will receive, or whether the changes involve closing particular projects. Those answers will shape how the move is judged, both inside the company and by observers who track how large technology firms treat departing staff. The co-CEOs said only that their top priority is to support the people who are leaving.
The earnings report on 20 October will be the first real test of how the market views the restructuring. Analysts will be watching for any updated guidance on revenue and operating margin, for comments on how much the layoffs are expected to save, and for signs that engagement is picking up. Investors will also listen for how management describes the balance between cost discipline and the continued spending on live events, games and advertising. A reassuring outlook could ease worries about the slowdown, while a cautious one would add to the case that the streaming leader faces a tougher environment than it did a few years ago.
For employees, the immediate priority is more personal. Product, technology, legal and HR staff will spend the coming days learning whether their roles are affected, and the broader job market for media and tech workers has been getting tighter. Readers who follow how technology companies are reshaping their workforces can find related coverage at Innovation Times.
