Netflix said on Wednesday, October 14, that it is eliminating roughly 1,000 positions — about 6 percent of its global workforce — in its largest single round of job cuts since 2022. The company had about 16,000 full-time employees worldwide at the end of 2025, according to regulatory filings. Four years ago it let go of about 450 people after reporting a net loss of 200,000 subscribers in a single quarter; this round is more than twice that size. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the news, and Puck News had flagged plans for a 5 percent reduction, up to roughly 800 jobs, on October 9.
Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters announced the move in a memo to staff. "We are making a number of organizational changes and, as a result, we'll be letting go of roughly 6 percent of our colleagues, with the greatest impact to our product, tech, legal, and HR teams," they wrote. They called the decision one they "don't take lightly," said the priority was supporting departing staff, and added that "our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full-year forecast." A Netflix representative declined to comment on the individual departures.
The backdrop is slowing growth. At Bloomberg's 2026 Screentime event, Sarandos admitted, "Overall, we're not growing as fast as I want us to, and we're working on making that move faster." Netflix counted 200 billion hours of viewing, he said, but watch time rose only 2 percent in the first half of 2026. Huber Research's Craig Huber put total first-half viewing at 97 billion hours, up 2 percent — roughly a 5 percent decline per subscriber. He double-downgraded the stock in mid-October, cutting his 12-month target to $70 from $85.
Nielsen's July data put YouTube at about 14.2 percent of U.S. television viewing against Netflix's 7.8 percent. Business Insider, listing reasons for Netflix's squeeze, pointed to free platforms siphoning attention while games and podcasts have yet to become breakout hits. TheWrap noted that an unexpected — and later abandoned — bid for Warner Bros. has also left some investors uneasy.
Shares have fallen more than 20 percent in 2026 and roughly 40 percent over the past year, closing in the $70-to-$72 range in early October. Wells Fargo cut the stock to Underweight with a $57 target on September 18; HSBC followed to Hold with a $76 target. Analysts were lukewarm on the layoffs' impact. "Cost cutting alone will not settle concerns about growth," PP Foresight's Paolo Pescatore told TheWrap.
Names surfaced on October 14 and 15. Per The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, four director-level scripted executives are departing: Lisa Lang McMullen (overall deals and series), James Oh (drama series), Carolina Garcia and Andrew McQuinn (both original series). Garcia spent a decade at Netflix and worked on "Stranger Things" and "13 Reasons Why"; Oh brought 18 years at Fox and five years as senior VP at Jerry Bruckheimer TV. Managers Jason Pan, Aaron Davidson and Dan Evans — in original series creative development, adult animation comedy and original animation respectively — also left.
Deadline reported that the unscripted division was hit too, with executives in casting and development affected: Amy Cohen, Director of Nonfiction Series and nearly a ten-year Netflix veteran who previously spent over a decade at Fox under Mike Darnell, and Rich Leist, Director of Unscripted Casting, who joined from All3Media America in 2021 and helped launch Netflix's first in-house casting department alongside Brittany Grooms and Cesar Rocha. Annie Roberts was also impacted.
Film VP Doug Belgrad is out. Hired in May 2024 as film chairman Dan Lin's first major appointment, he came from more than 25 years at Sony, where he served as president of the Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group. Film's Sheroum Kim also departed. Quartz and Variety reported cuts to publicity and awards staff, including Kelly Caton, senior director of series awards strategy and publicity, and Dominic Pagone, director of entertainment communications. Forbes and TheWrap reported that Greg Lombardo, who built the Netflix House venues in Philadelphia and Dallas over seven years, exited, following marketing and publicity VP Pam Levine. A third House is planned for Las Vegas next year.
Attention now turns to third-quarter earnings, due after the close on Tuesday, October 20. Netflix guided to $12.86 billion in revenue, up 11.7 percent, and $0.82 in earnings per share, with full-year revenue of $51.0 billion to $51.4 billion (13 to 14 percent growth) and a 31.5 percent operating margin. Analysts expect roughly $12.88 billion in quarterly revenue. The company also projects about $3 billion in 2026 advertising revenue, roughly double last year's level. Whether the cuts calm Wall Street will not be clear until then.