Netflix cuts about 1,000 jobs as growth slows

Netflix is cutting about 1,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, in its largest round of layoffs since 2022, as the streaming company confronts slower growth and seeks to focus spending on its priorities.

Co-chief executives Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters announced the cuts to employees Wednesday. Most of the affected jobs are in product, technology, legal and human resources, according to an email seen by NBC News. Netflix had about 16,000 full-time employees as of December 2025, according to a securities filing cited by CBS News.

“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,” Peters and Sarandos said in the employee email, according to NBC News.

The executives said the layoffs do not change the company’s financial outlook. “Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full-year forecast,” they said in a memo obtained by CBS News. They added that Netflix would “continue to invest aggressively in high-impact areas” while making “focused choices across the business” to serve members, partners, employees and investors.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the layoffs and said they would affect roughly 1,000 positions globally. CBS News reported that the reduction is Netflix’s largest since 2022. Netflix declined further comment to CBS News.

The cuts come as Netflix works to increase the time subscribers spend on its service. Users watched more than 97 billion hours of content in the first half of 2026, up 2% from a year earlier, according to the company’s most recent quarterly earnings report, as cited by NBC News.

“Overall, we’re not growing as fast as I want us to, and we’re working on making that move faster,” Sarandos said at Bloomberg’s annual media conference late last month, according to NBC News.

Netflix remains highly profitable, but its growth has slowed in recent years amid competition from other streaming services and a saturated North American market, CBS News reported. Its shares traded just below $70 Wednesday and had fallen nearly 43% over the preceding 12 months, according to CBS News. The company is expected to report third-quarter results Tuesday, NBC News reported.

Netflix has also sought to lift engagement by adding live sports and video podcasts licensed from outside companies, including Bill Simmons’ The Ringer, NBC News reported. Its job cuts follow reductions elsewhere in Hollywood: Disney has cut hundreds of jobs this year under new CEO Josh D’Amaro, according to an NBC News source, while Skydance is widely expected to reduce staff across Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC News reported.