Netflix will eliminate roughly 1,000 positions, close to 6% of its total staff, marking the company’s deepest workforce reduction since its founding.
An internal memo from co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, obtained by Variety, confirmed the cuts Wednesday morning. Most affected teams include product, technology, legal, and human resources.
The streaming leader framed the move as a structural adjustment rather than a distress signal. Sarandos and Peters told employees the company still expects to hit its financial targets for the year, emphasizing that disciplined resource allocation remains central to its long-term entertainment mission.
Meanwhile, the numbers tell a striking story. Netflix posted $45.2 billion in revenue for 2025, up 16% year over year. Net income climbed 26% to $11 billion. For 2026, leadership projects revenue between $51 billion and $51.4 billion, reflecting 13% to 14% growth.
So why cut now? Netflix has made smaller trims before. In 2022, the company laid off about 450 workers after reporting its first quarterly subscriber loss in over a decade. Earlier this year, several dozen positions disappeared from the global product organization. But nothing approaches this scale.
At the close of 2025, Netflix employed approximately 16,000 full-time workers. The company has not yet responded to requests for comment.
The memo acknowledged the human toll. Executives wrote that such decisions never come easily and pledged that supporting departing employees stands as the immediate priority. Team leaders will contact affected workers directly.
Netflix reports third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, Oct. 20, after markets close. Investors will watch closely for any signals about how the restructuring affects guidance or content spending plans. For now, the company insists its business remains strong and growing, even as it trims headcount to sharpen focus on what leaders call critical growth areas.
