Netflix has laid off over 1,000 staff in its biggest cutbacks to date, amounting to around 6% of its workforce. The cuts will predominantly affect its product, technology, legal and HR teams.
“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,” co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters wrote in an email to employees, via WSJ.
“Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full-year forecast. We’ll continue to invest aggressively in high-impact areas to improve our service and further drive growth and innovation. Doing that means making focused choices across the business so we can keep delivering for our members, partners, employees, and investors.”
Despite having a range of beloved exclusives, Netflix has struggled to keep up with audience demand lately, with some accusing it of adopting a quantity over quality approach. In a recently announced deal with Disney, Netflix plans to license shows from the rival streaming service to help meet demand.
In the deal, Netflix will host select Disney+ content for its 325 million subscribers, including a mix of legacy titles and currently streaming TV shows. Netflix recently announced its streaming lineup for October, which includes miniseries East of Eden, Ben Affleck’s Animals, and Josh Hartnett squaring off against a sea beast in Below. On October 20, Netflix will release the second season of its Studio Trigger-produced anime series, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2.
Netflix has also attempted to break into gaming to increase dwell time on its service. Most famously, the GTA 6 Extended Look was a Netflix exclusive for the first few hours. By all accounts, it was a hit, breaking 31.1 million views in its first week.
In June, the company released FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition as the latest game to include in its tucked away gaming section. But in August, the developer behind Netflix’s soccer game laid off 85% of its staff. Reviewers criticized the game's controls, graphics, AI, and pretty much everything else. In March this year, Netflix increased its prices again. According to Variety, a Netflix spokesperson said the company did not have any comment beyond the memo about layoffs.