Netflix Cuts 1,000 Jobs in Biggest Layoff Since 2022
Netflix is eliminating about 1,000 jobs, roughly 6 percent of its workforce, in the company’s largest round of layoffs since 2022. Co-chief executives Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters informed employees in a memo sent Wednesday morning, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.
The cuts fall heaviest on product, technology, legal and human resources teams. Film division executive Doug Belgrad was among those affected, the Hollywood Reporter reported, citing unnamed sources. The company had about 16,000 full-time employees at the end of 2025, according to its annual filing.
“Our mission — to entertain the world — is ambitious, and delivering on it requires us to be disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources,” Sarandos and Peters wrote in the memo, according to the Journal.
The layoffs land as Netflix faces the stiffest competition of the streaming era. YouTube, TikTok and Instagram are pulling viewers away from long-form video, and YouTube reportedly surpassed Netflix in average daily viewing last year. Netflix shares have fallen about 35 percent from their 2026 peak in mid-April.
The company also lost a protracted bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming and studio assets to Paramount Skydance earlier this year, a defeat that would have given it HBO, CNN and a vast content library.
Netflix told TechCrunch it will “continue to invest aggressively in high impact areas” and remains on track to deliver its full-year forecast. The timing, just days before third-quarter earnings scheduled for Oct. 20, signals a push to protect margins: analysts expect adjusted earnings near 82 cents a share on revenue approaching $12.87 billion.
To squeeze more value from subscribers, Netflix has raised prices, expanded its ad-supported tier and pushed into live events, sports, gaming and children’s programming.
For an industry watching every cost cut as a signal, the question now is whether leaner staffing can sustain the pace of hits that built the world’s largest streamer.