Netflix plans to lay off about six per cent of its workforce, amounting to nearly 1000 positions, as the streaming giant makes wider “organisational changes”.
Co-chief executives Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos announced the job cuts in a memo to employees on Wednesday.
They said the company’s product, tech, legal and human resources teams would be the most affected.
“Decisions like these are never easy, and we don’t take them lightly,” Peters and Sarandos wrote in the memo, which was obtained by the Associated Press.
They maintained business was strong – but that Netflix needed to be “disciplined about where we prioritise our people and resources” as it invests in future growth and “high impact areas to improve our service”.
Beyond the memo from its chief executives, Netflix declined to comment further about the job cuts.
Between membership sign-ups and price increases, Netflix’s profit has grown this year.
In its second financial quarter, the company earned $US3.4 billion ($A4.9 billion) and racked up revenue of $US12.56 billion – up nine per cent and 13% per cent respectively from the same period last year.
Still, Netflix’s forecast for the third quarter fell below Wall Street’s expectations.
The company plans to report those earnings next week.
Competition in the streaming space is growing more crowded overall.
Netflix continues to be a dominant player – accounting for 19 per cent of the market per the latest data from streaming guide JustWatch – but rivals like Amazon’s Prime Video and Disney+ are close behind.
HBO Max and Paramount+ are also now under the same roof – Skydance -after Paramount’s $US81 billion buyout of Warner Bros Discovery closed last week.
Netflix initially signed a deal to buy Warner’s studio and streaming business late last year but walked away from that offer back in February.
At the end of 2025, per regulatory filings, Netflix had about 16,000 full-time employees worldwide.
The lay-offs announced on Wednesday mark the biggest round of cuts the California-based company has rolled out in years.
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
