Netflix Lays Off 150 Employees

Netflix Lays Off 150 Employees

Netflix is laying off roughly 150 people after the streaming giant lost subscribers last quarter.

In a statement to dot.LA, a Netflix spokesperson said the company’s slowing revenue growth means it must rein in its costs.


“So sadly, we are letting around 150 employees go today, mostly U.S.-based,” the spokesperson said. “These changes are primarily driven by business needs rather than individual performance, which makes them especially tough as none of us want to say goodbye to such great colleagues. We're working hard to support them through this very difficult transition."

The job cuts amount to 2% of the company’s workforce, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The streaming giant is eliminating 70 roles in its animation division, and cutting contractor jobs in social media and publishing channels, THR reported, citing a company memo. Affected employees are expected to receive severance packages starting at four months.

The layoffs come just a few weeks after Netflix laid off about 25 people in its marketing division, including at its editorial website Tudum.

Netflix shares have cratered since the streaming platform reported that it lost 200,000 subscribers during the first quarter—the first time the company shed customers in more than a decade. The company also expects to lose 2 million more in the current second quarter. The streamer blamed increased competition, password sharing and the war in Ukraine, among other issues.

During the earnings call in April, Netflix CFO warned that over the next two years, “we're kind of operating to roughly that operating margin, which does mean that we're pulling back on some of our spend growth across both content and noncontent spend.”

Is AI Art Genuine Creativity or a Gimmick To Go Viral?
Evan Xie

Warnings about learning computers coming for your job are nothing new, but the last month or two has seen an explosion of interest in the topic. According to a February survey from Resume Builder, 33% of managers who are already using ChatGPT at their companies said that the program will “definitely” be responsible for layoffs in 2023, while 26% said that they will “probably” replace real humans with the language modeling app soon.

Read moreShow less
Lon Harris
Lon Harris is a contributor to dot.LA. His work has also appeared on ScreenJunkies, RottenTomatoes and Inside Streaming.
Upfront Ventures Summit: The Chainsmokers Journey From Music to Venture
Clark Studio

On Thursday, Upfront Ventures hosted its 2023 Summit and music icons Alex Pall and Drew Taggart of The Chainsmokers hit the stage, not to perform, but instead to discuss their venture journey.

The duo launched MantisVC, a Marina Del Rey-based early stage tech venture fund in 2019.

Pall and Taggart shared the stage with WndrCo’s managing partner Jeffrey Katzenberg to dive deeper into what their music career has taught them and how it translated over to their venture firm.

Read moreShow less
Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

RELATEDTRENDING
LA TECH JOBS
interchangeLA