Netflix said it will lay off roughly 6% of its employees, with cuts concentrated in product, tech, legal and HR. Business Insider puts the number at about 1,000 people and notes slowing engagement growth and a lagging stock price. The company says its full-year forecast is unchanged.
Netflix will lay off roughly 6% of its employees, the company said on Wednesday in a memo obtained by CNBC. The cuts will largely hit the product, tech, legal and HR teams.
Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters wrote to staff that the company must be disciplined about where it prioritizes people and resources. According to the memo, "we remain on track to deliver our full year forecast".
About 1,000 jobs, the biggest cuts since 2022
Business Insider, citing a person familiar with the plans, reported about 1,000 employees will go, the largest round of cuts since 2022. Its last major round of layoffs came in 2022, after the company lost subscribers for the first time in more than a decade.
Netflix is also contending with slowing engagement growth. Its stock is down more than 30% over the last six months and over 40% over the past year, according to Business Insider.
Earnings arrive next week
The cuts come a week before Netflix reports third-quarter earnings, after the closing bell on October 20. Other media companies have also trimmed staff recently: NBCUniversal said in early October it is parting with a few hundred global streaming tech employees, while Disney did its third round of layoffs in six months in late September.
Meanwhile, Netflix's share of US TV viewership stood at 7.8% in July, according to Nielsen data cited by Business Insider. That is below YouTube's 14.2% and down from 9% in December.
Sources: CNBC, Business Insider
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