LOS GATOS, United States — Netflix is cutting approximately 1,000 jobs worldwide, affecting about 6 per cent of its workforce.
The reductions are the streaming company’s largest since 2022 and come as it faces growing competition for viewers from other entertainment platforms.
The cuts were announced on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, in an internal message from co-chief executives Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters.
Employees in the company’s technology, product development, legal, and human resources departments will account for most of the affected positions.
Netflix employed approximately 16,000 full-time workers at the end of 2025, according to its regulatory filings.
The company has not disclosed how the layoffs will be distributed among countries or when the reductions will be completed.
Netflix Executives Defend Job Cuts
In their message to employees, Sarandos and Peters said the restructuring was intended to direct resources towards the company’s priorities.
“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,” the executives said.
The message, reviewed by Reuters, acknowledged the difficulty of the decision while maintaining that the company’s financial position remained healthy.
“Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full-year forecast,” the executives said.
Netflix also indicated that it would continue investing in areas intended to improve its streaming service and support future growth.
The company declined to provide further details about the restructuring.
Competition From YouTube and Other Platforms
Netflix’s decision comes amid changes in how audiences consume television programmes, films, and online entertainment.
Subscription streaming services face competition not only from traditional television companies but also from free digital platforms, including YouTube and TikTok.
Those services offer large quantities of user-generated content without requiring viewers to pay monthly subscription fees.
For Netflix, which built its business around paid access to films and television programmes, attracting and retaining viewing time has become an important measure of its performance.
Investors have increasingly examined how much time customers spend watching Netflix rather than relying solely on subscription numbers.
Sarandos acknowledged the company’s growth challenges during Bloomberg’s Screentime summit in September.
He said Netflix was “not growing as fast as I want us to”.
The company also faces competition from established streaming rivals, including Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and services owned by major Hollywood studios.
According to streaming guide JustWatch, Netflix retains approximately 19 per cent of the streaming market measured by its platform, with Amazon and Disney among its closest competitors.
Netflix has responded by expanding beyond conventional subscription television.
Its investments include advertising-supported subscriptions, live entertainment, sporting events, and video games.
The company has also sought to attract advertisers as it develops additional revenue sources beyond monthly subscription payments.
Warner Bros. Deal Changes Streaming Market
The restructuring follows a major consolidation in the American entertainment industry.
Paramount completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this month, bringing major film, television, and streaming businesses under the same corporate ownership.
The transaction combines Paramount’s entertainment operations with Warner Bros. Discovery assets, including HBO and its streaming business.
The enlarged company plans to bring its streaming services together over time.
Netflix had previously pursued Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets as part of its own expansion strategy.
The company withdrew from the proposed transaction in February, leaving Paramount to complete the acquisition.
The outcome altered the competitive landscape for Netflix, which must now contend with a larger entertainment group controlling an extensive catalogue of films and television programmes.
Ross Benes, a senior analyst at market research company eMarketer, told Reuters that Netflix remained heavily dependent on subscription revenue.
He said the company had struggled to establish another substantial source of income.
Benes suggested that its subscription business could eventually face limits to further expansion, increasing the importance of other revenue-generating activities.
Profits Rise Despite Growth Concerns
The layoffs come despite continued growth in Netflix’s revenue and earnings.
The company reported revenue of $12.56 billion for the second quarter of 2026, an increase of approximately 13 per cent compared with the corresponding period in 2025.
Net profit reached $3.4 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of about 9 per cent.
The improvement reflected the benefits of higher subscription prices and continued membership growth.
However, Netflix’s financial forecast for the third quarter fell short of Wall Street analysts’ expectations.
The company is scheduled to release its third-quarter earnings next week, providing investors with further information about its growth, profitability, and business outlook.
Netflix shares have also faced pressure this year.
According to Reuters, the company’s stock had fallen approximately 25 per cent since the beginning of 2026 before gaining about 0.7 per cent during Wednesday’s trading.
The decline has occurred as investors assess whether Netflix can maintain the rapid expansion that helped transform the global entertainment industry.
Largest Layoffs Since 2022
The latest restructuring marks Netflix’s most extensive workforce reduction in four years.
In 2022, the company eliminated approximately 450 positions in two rounds of layoffs after reporting its first subscriber losses in more than a decade.
Those cuts came during a period when the company was reassessing its spending following years of rapid growth.
Netflix subsequently introduced measures to strengthen revenue, including changes to account-sharing rules and the expansion of advertising-supported subscriptions.
The company has since returned to profitability growth, although competition across the entertainment industry has continued to increase.
The new layoffs will primarily affect corporate and technical operations rather than being concentrated in a single entertainment production division.
Netflix has not announced whether additional staff reductions are planned.
The company maintains that its operations are expanding and that its financial targets for the year remain unchanged.
