Netflix Lays Off About 6% of Its Staff, Roughly 1,000 Jobs, in Its Biggest Cuts Since 2022

Updated 2:50 p.m. PT Wednesday, Oct. 14: Netflix confirmed Wednesday that it is laying off about 6% of its workforce, close to 1,000 employees, a bigger cut than the roughly 5% first reported last week. Most of the cuts are in the product, technology, legal and human resources teams, the company told TechCrunch, and co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters announced them in a memo to staff that CNBC obtained. The Wall Street Journal first reported the memo.

"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," the co-CEOs wrote, according to CNBC. They said the business is "strong and growing" and on track to hit its full-year forecast, and that Netflix will "continue to invest aggressively in high impact areas." Netflix said it had no comment beyond the memo. The company has not said how many of the cuts fall at its Los Gatos headquarters or elsewhere in the Bay Area.

Netflix had about 16,000 full-time employees at the end of last year, according to its annual filing, TechCrunch noted. The company reports third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, Oct. 20. CNBC pointed to flat viewing time and growing competition from YouTube and from the combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, which plans to merge Paramount+ and HBO Max. TechCrunch noted that Netflix lost the bidding for Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming businesses to Paramount Skydance earlier this year.

Earlier reporting (Oct. 9 to 10)

Netflix, headquartered in Los Gatos, was preparing to cut about 5% of its workforce, according to a report first published Friday by the news outlet Puck and confirmed by separate sources to the Los Angeles Times. An announcement could come as early as next week, Reuters reported, citing Puck.

Netflix declined to comment to both Reuters and the Times, and the company had not announced any cuts as of Friday.

How many jobs

Netflix had about 16,000 full-time employees at the end of last year, Reuters noted. One source told the Times the cuts could reach about 800 people and would include the creative team, among them staff working on feature films. It would be the company's largest round of layoffs since 2022, when Netflix cut 150 workers in May and about 300 more, roughly 3% of staff, in June after losing subscribers for the first time in more than a decade.

The reports did not say how many of the affected jobs are in the Bay Area. Netflix also has large operations in Los Angeles and overseas.

Why now

Investors have been watching how much time people spend on the service. Viewing hours rose only about 2% in the first half of 2026 from a year earlier even as content spending climbed, the Times reported. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said at a Bloomberg event last week that the company is "not growing as fast as I want us to."

Competition is part of the picture. YouTube held 14.2% of U.S. TV streaming time in July versus 7.8% for Netflix, according to Nielsen figures cited by the Times. Netflix shares closed Friday at $70.30, down about 2% on the day and 43% from a year ago.

Netflix has been expanding into advertising, live events and games, though it has also trimmed its games business, closing its Night School studio in August and moving to shut its Moonloot studio in Helsinki.