Netflix to Cut About 1,000 Jobs in Its Biggest Layoff Since 2022

Netflix is laying off about 6% of its workforce, roughly 1,000 people, in its biggest round of job cuts since 2022, according to an internal memo from co-chief executives Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos that Reuters saw on Wednesday.

The cuts will fall mainly on the product, technology, legal and human-resources teams, the email showed. Netflix had about 16,000 full-time employees at the end of last year, so a 6% reduction lands at roughly 1,000 roles. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the memo on Wednesday. In it, the co-chief executives said entertaining the world requires the company to be "disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources," and that the business is strong and growing and remains on track to deliver its full-year forecast. Investors took the news calmly: Netflix shares rose 0.7% on Wednesday, though the stock is still down around 25% so far this year.

A layoff announced alongside a reaffirmed forecast

This is not a distress cut, at least on the numbers Netflix last reported. In its second-quarter shareholder letter, filed in July, Netflix said revenue grew 13% year over year to $12.6 billion and narrowed its full-year 2026 revenue forecast to $51.0 billion to $51.4 billion, while continuing to forecast an operating margin of 31.5%. The same letter said the company remains on track to deliver approximately $3 billion in advertising revenue in 2026, roughly double the prior year. A company missing its forecast does not usually reaffirm it in a layoff memo; a company protecting a 31.5% margin target while its growth matures sometimes does exactly this.

The fight is for attention, and attention is cheaper elsewhere

The pressure underneath is engagement — the time viewers actually spend on Netflix — which has become a key concern for investors as YouTube and TikTok attract viewers with free, user-generated content that costs those platforms far less to supply. Netflix's own letter said view hours grew 2% in the first half of 2026, a healthy reading but hardly runaway growth. Ross Benes, a senior analyst at eMarketer, argues the company has yet to find another major revenue line beyond a subscription business that may be approaching a ceiling — which is why Netflix keeps investing beyond subscriptions, in an advertising tier, live programming and gaming. The failed pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming and studio assets earlier this year deepened doubts about that strategy, and the competitive map has since consolidated against it: Paramount completed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. earlier this month, forming Skydance.

Six days before earnings, the memo becomes the question

The timing gives the cuts an immediate test. Netflix said on September 14 that it will post its third-quarter results on Tuesday, October 20, at about 1:01 p.m. Pacific time, followed by a live video interview with Peters, Sarandos, chief financial officer Spence Neumann and Spencer Wang at 1:45 p.m. Pacific. The last comparable moment was 2022, when Netflix cut about 450 jobs in two rounds after losing subscribers for the first time in more than a decade — a retrenchment, where this one is presented as reallocation. What remains unknown is the detail management has not yet supplied: which roles beyond the four named teams are affected, what the cuts save, and whether any savings are earmarked for the advertising, live and gaming bets the company says come next. October 20 is where those answers are due, and where investors will judge whether a leaner Netflix can keep engagement — and that 31.5% margin — moving the right way.