Netflix announces 6% job cuts on Oct 14, biggest since 2022
Netflix’s cuts will mainly affect product, technology, legal and human resources teams, while its leaders say the full-year forecast is on track.
- Netflix announced on October 14 it is cutting 6% of its workforce, which amounts to approximately 1,000 jobs.
- This is the company's largest round of layoffs since it cut about 450 jobs in 2022.
- The job reductions will mostly impact the product, technology, legal, and human resources teams.
- Despite the layoffs, Netflix stated its business is strong and it remains on track to meet its full-year financial forecast.
Netflix told employees on October 14, 2026 that it was cutting about 6% of its workforce, or roughly 1,000 jobs, in its largest round of layoffs since 2022, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
Product, technology, legal and human resources teams will account for most of the reductions, the email from co-chief executives Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos showed. Netflix employed about 16,000 people at the end of 2025.
Netflix says full-year forecast remains on track
Netflix’s leaders said the company remained on course to meet its financial forecast despite the workforce reductions.
“Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full-year forecast,” Peters and Sarandos wrote in the employee memo.
Explaining the need to prioritise resources, Netflix’s co-chief executives wrote: “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.”
Netflix shares rose 0.7% on October 14, although the stock was down around 25% since the start of the year.
Netflix faces competition for viewers and scrutiny over growth
Netflix faces intense competition for viewing time from established media rivals and platforms such as YouTube. Engagement, measured by the amount of time users spend on Netflix, has become a central concern for investors.
YouTube and TikTok draw audiences with free-to-watch, user-generated content, giving those platforms a cost advantage over Netflix.
Netflix’s expansion disrupted the US media industry and put pressure on cable television businesses. During 2026, however, the company has faced questions over whether it can sustain that growth.
Netflix’s unsuccessful pursuit of Warner Bros Discovery’s streaming and studio assets earlier this year added to doubts about its strategy. Paramount completed its US$110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros earlier in October, creating the combined company Skydance.
Netflix pursues revenue beyond subscriptions
Netflix has been investing in an advertising-supported subscription tier, live programming and gaming as it seeks to broaden its business beyond subscriptions.
“They haven't been able to find like another line of major revenue,” said Ross Benes, senior analyst at eMarketer. He said Netflix remained reliant on a subscription business that could be approaching a ceiling.
Benes said Netflix would eventually need another revenue stream to diversify its business, but that finding one had proved more difficult.
Netflix’s previous major workforce reductions came in 2022, when it eliminated about 450 jobs across two rounds of layoffs after reporting its first subscriber losses in more than a decade.
