Netflix said on the 15th that it had hired Peter Rice, former chairman of Disney's general entertainment division, as its new chief content officer.
Rice will oversee Netflix's global content strategy, succeeding Bella Bajaria, who served as the public face of the company's content strategy for the past decade.
Rice joined Disney's management ranks in 2019 when the company acquired Fox, where he had been president of 21st Century Fox. He built enough standing in the industry to be floated as a possible future Disney chief executive, but was ousted by then-CEO Bob Chapek on the grounds that his working style did not fit Disney's corporate culture.
The appointment is seen as a response to mounting concerns over slowing growth and subscriber losses. Netflix shares have fallen more than 40% over the past year as competition from rival platforms such as YouTube has intensified.
The company is also cutting jobs. The Wall Street Journal reported on the 14th that Netflix plans to lay off about 1,000 employees, roughly 6% of its global workforce, in what would be its largest round of job cuts since 2022.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said Rice is one of the most effective leaders of large organizations in the entertainment industry, adding that he understands what stories resonate with audiences and has long helped talented people do the best work of their careers.