Netflix Lays Off About 1,000 Employees – 6% of Staff, Product and Tech Teams Hit, Months After Losing Warner Bros.

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by Johnnie BehiriToday

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Netflix is cutting around 1,000 jobs, roughly 6% of its global workforce, in its largest round of layoffs since 2022. The cuts fall mostly on product, technology, legal and human resources teams, and come only months after the streamer lost the fight for Warner Bros. to Paramount. So what does a leaner Netflix mean for the people who make its films and series?

According to an internal memo first reported by The Wall Street Journal and later obtained by CNBC and Axios, co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters told employees this week that about 1,000 positions will go. Netflix had approximately 16,000 full-time employees at the end of 2025, according to its annual filing. The company stresses that the move is not a reaction to weak numbers: in the memo, the co-CEOs write that “our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full-year forecast.” Netflix reports its quarterly earnings on October 20, only days after the announcement.

Why Netflix is cutting now

The memo frames the layoffs as a question of focus. “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,” Sarandos and Peters write. According to Axios, the memo adds that meeting the company’s growth targets “means making focused choices across the business so we can keep delivering for our members, partners, employees, and investors.” The company says it will “continue to invest aggressively in high-impact areas” of the service.

Growth is the underlying issue. At Bloomberg’s Screentime conference, Sarandos said Netflix is “not growing as fast as I want.” The main pressure is competition for viewers’ time. TechCrunch reports that YouTube overtook Netflix in average daily viewing in 2025, while TikTok, Instagram, and other social apps compete for the same attention. We have previously reported on how YouTube became the world’s largest media company, and Netflix’s own product decisions now reflect that shift.

Netflix is not short of money. It generated 45.2 billion USD in revenue in 2025, and its advertising revenue has risen to more than 1.5 billion USD, according to TechCrunch. Axios describes Netflix as still the most profitable streaming business among its competitors. Investors are less convinced: Netflix stock has lost roughly 40% of its value over the past year, and about 22% since the start of 2026, according to 24/7 Wall St. Axios also notes that the company remains highly dependent on subscriptions, because games, live events and advertising have not yet matched that income.

What happened with Warner Bros.

The layoffs follow the most ambitious move in the company’s history. As we reported in December 2025, Netflix agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business for 82.7 billion USD. Paramount answered with a hostile bid for the whole company, and after a long bidding contest, Paramount outbid Netflix in February. Earlier this month, the Paramount and Warner Bros. merger closed, and the combined company now operates as Skydance.

None of the reports link the layoffs directly to the failed acquisition, and Netflix does not mention Warner Bros. in its memo. The timing still matters. Had the deal gone through, Netflix would now be integrating Warner Bros. Pictures, HBO, and a large studio operation. Instead, it is reducing its own headcount while Skydance prepares its own job cuts after its merger. Both of the companies that competed for Warner Bros. are now cutting staff in the same quarter.

Who is affected, and who is not

According to Axios, TechCrunch, and CNBC’s memo report, the cuts fall mostly on product, technology, legal, and human resources. These are corporate and engineering roles, not production departments. The reports do not mention any cuts in Netflix’s creative or content divisions, and Netflix has not announced any change to its production plans.

This distinction is important for freelance crews and production companies. Netflix commissions most of its work through outside producers, so its own headcount says little about how many shows and films it orders. Its regional production commitments remain on record: in February 2025, Sarandos announced 1 billion USD for Mexican film and television production over four years, and in June 2025 Netflix committed more than 1 billion EUR to Spanish productions through 2028. According to the International Business Times report syndicated on Yahoo Finance, nothing indicates that the layoffs affect these commitments.

That said, we should not read too much into the absence of production cuts. A company that cuts product and technology staff is changing what it builds around its content, and product priorities eventually shape what content gets ordered. TechCrunch lists the areas Netflix is betting on: AI-supported features, games, video podcasts, a short-form vertical video feed and a redesigned mobile app. Netflix has also expanded into live events and sports. A vertical video feed and video podcasts both need content made in different formats and at different budgets than a scripted drama.

A different Netflix than in 2022

The last comparable cut came in 2022, when Netflix let go of about 450 people after a rare drop in subscribers. That was a reaction to a crisis. This round is different: the company reports growing revenue and expects to meet its full-year forecast, yet it is still cutting 6% of its staff.

For the production industry, this is part of a larger pattern. We have reported on film and TV production in Hollywood falling by 40% in two years, and on how production work is moving from Los Angeles to London. With Paramount and Warner Bros. now one company, the number of major buyers for film and series projects has already dropped by one. A Netflix that is profitable but growing more slowly, and that puts more money into short-form and live formats, is likely to be a more selective buyer of traditional scripted work. How selective will become clearer with the earnings report on October 20 and the content plans that follow.

Do you work on Netflix productions, and have you noticed a change in how the streamer commissions projects this year? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!