Netflix prepares major job cuts in biggest reduction since 2022

Netflix is preparing to cut a large number of jobs, its biggest staff reduction in four years.

Word of the imminent cuts started circulating on Thursday afternoon, 8 October. People familiar with the plans described the reduction as a big one, according to Deadline.

The scale is estimated at about 5% of the company workforce. That figure comes from Puck, which first reported the plans, in a report cited by Reuters on 9 October. Puck described the move as part of a restructuring, meaning teams and roles are reshaped rather than a single department being closed.

Timing is still fluid. Some expected the layoffs to start as early as Friday, 9 October, with next week also possible, Deadline reported. Netflix declined to comment on the reported plans.

The reports point to pressure on growth. Netflix stock had dropped more than 40% over the past year. Viewer engagement, meaning time spent watching, increased only 2% over the first half of the year.

Co-CEO Ted Sarandos addressed the pace of growth at a Bloomberg conference last week. “Overall, we’re not growing as fast as I want us to, and we’re working on making that move faster,” he said.

Netflix has not made major cuts since 2022. That year it cut around 450 roles in two rounds, including about 150 people in May, mostly in the United States, and an additional 300 staff in June across divisions including legal and product.

Since then the cuts have been smaller and targeted. In February, several dozen employees left the product division, which employs about 6,000 people across Netflix’s 30 global offices. Earlier rounds affected about 15 staff in a film department reorganisation in 2024 and about 10 people across series and film publicity.

What makes this stand out is the size. A 5% cut would go well beyond recent trims and return the streamer to the scale of its 2022 retrenchment. For the staff affected, it decides whether their teams and projects continue.