Netflix laid off roughly 1,000 employees, or about 6% of its staff, on Wednesday, as the megastreamer battles slowed growth.
The majority of the cuts are in the product, tech, legal and human-resources teams, co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said in an email to staff on Wednesday morning obtained by TheWrap.
“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,” they said. “Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full- year forecast. We’ll continue to invest aggressively in high- impact areas to improve our service and further drive growth and innovation. Doing that means making focused choices across the business so we can keep delivering for our members, partners, employees, and investors.”
Netflix had no comment beyond the staff email.
As of the end of 2025, Netflix had approximately 16,000 full-time employees. The company’s last major staff reduction was back in 2022, though it laid off a small number of product team employees in February.
Sarandos acknowledged the growth issues last month in an interview where he admitted, “We’re not growing as fast as I want us to, and we’re working on making that move faster.”
The streamer’s stock has dropped 25% in 2026 as Wall Street fears it’s not growing fast enough. In July, Netflix accounted for 7.8% of TV viewership, compared to YouTube’s 14.2%, per Nielsen’s latest Gauge report.
Netflix stopped revealing subscriber numbers last year and instead switched its metrics to engagement, but the megastreamer has also made the decision to pull back on its twice-yearly data dumps — those reveals, which show view counts for everything on the streamer, will now only be released once a year.
In order to boost growth, Netflix has pushed into areas like podcasts, live events, sports, vertical video and gaming. It also has made efforts to lure YouTube talent to its platform, expanded its content lineup overseas through a partnership with French broadcaster TF1. and is exploring adding live channels and bundles with services such as Peacock.
Netflix is also pushing into the theatrical space in a big way. Awards contender “La Bola Negra” will get the streamer’s first 45-day theatrical window this fall, David Fincher’s “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth” will be its first IMAX release in November, and Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” is getting a global theatrical rollout and 45-day theatrical window when it hits theaters in February long before its streaming debut.
Read the full email to staff below.
Team – We wanted to share that we are making a number of organizational changes and, as a result, we’ll be letting go of roughly 6% of our colleagues, with the greatest impact to our product, tech, legal, and HR teams.
Decisions like these are never easy, and we don’t take them lightly. Our top priority today is to support those who are leaving Netflix. The process will vary somewhat by country, but leaders will be connecting with impacted employees soon. If you are leaving, please know that we will support you throughout this transition and make sure you have as much clarity and context as possible. We also want to say thank you. What you’ve built, and the care you brought to Netflix, have made a lasting difference and we will always be grateful.
For the rest of the team, we know you have questions, too. 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. Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full- year forecast. We’ll continue to invest aggressively in high- impact areas to improve our service and further drive growth and innovation. Doing that means making focused choices across the business so we can keep delivering for our members, partners, employees, and investors.
We know changes like this are tough, but let’s stay focused. This is one of the most dynamic times in the history of entertainment – and it’s a moment perfectly suited to a company like ours that’s built at the intersection of technology and entertainment. Now it’s on us to step up and meet the moment, together, like we always do.
Ted and Greg
The layoffs were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
