In an Oct. 16 Variety article republished by Yahoo Finance, Todd Spangler reported that Netflix had laid off around 1,000 employees that week, calling it a 6% reduction in force. Charles Pulliam-Moore of The Verge described the 1,000 layoffs as forthcoming in an Oct. 23 article. Their accounts differ on timing and do not establish how many cuts had taken effect by Oct. 24.
Spangler also reported a move to replace chief content officer Bela Bajaria with Peter Rice. Pulliam-Moore wrote that Netflix was ousting its film chairman and film vice president, citing separate reports about those roles. In a staff memo quoted by Variety, co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said the job cuts would give Netflix the means to “invest aggressively in high-impact areas to improve our service and further drive growth and innovation.”
The cuts come amid growth concerns, not reported losses. Spangler put Netflix's 2025 net profit at $11 billion and revenue at $46.6 billion, up 16%, while reporting a projection of 13% to 14% revenue growth for 2026. Pulliam-Moore pointed to missed ad revenue targets, sluggish growth and a failed attempt to acquire Warner Bros. in his assessment that Netflix's situation looked grim.
Joe Berkowitz of Fast Company raised a different concern: whether Netflix's most-watched releases become cultural events. He wrote that the newer, unrelated War Machine reportedly reached 140 million views, yet in his view drew little online chatter. Berkowitz argues that Netflix gets far more people watching than talking about its releases, while also calling it “still an apex predator in the streaming wars.”
