This could be Netflix’s biggest job cuts since 2022
Netflix is preparing to lay off about 5% of its employees as part of a wider restructuring, according to a report by Puck News. It would be Netflix’s biggest round of job cuts in four years, and it would land just days before the company reports its third-quarter earnings on October 20. The company’s own annual filing listed about 16,000 full-time employees at the end of 2025, so the final number may be closer to 800. If the cuts go ahead, they will be Netflix’s largest since 2022. That year, the streamer lost 200,000 subscribers in a single quarter, its first such drop in more than a decade. It let go of about 150 staff in May and roughly 300 more in June. The stock has fallen more than 40% over the past year. Puck links the pressure to last year’s failed bid for Warner Bros and to engagement that grew just 2% in the first half of 2026. He also flagged live programming as a drag on the numbers, saying it takes up about 5% of the content budget while drawing roughly 1% of total viewing. Revenue rose 13% to $12.6 billion in the April to June quarter. Marketing, technology and administrative costs together climbed 18% to around $2.3 billion. Headcount kept climbing too, with about 2,000 full-time employees added through 2025. Revenue growth, meanwhile, has cooled from 18% in the last quarter of 2025 to 16% and then 13% this year. Netflix expects around 12% for the September quarter, but it is still targeting a 31.5% operating margin for 2026, up from 29.5% last year. It does bring overheads closer in line with slowing sales, and it gives Sarandos and co-CEO Greg Peters a cost story to tell on October 20.
Puck puts Netflix’s global headcount at roughly 17,000, which means around 850 jobs could go. Because of a $142 million rise in personnel costs, technology and development alone jumped 22%, mostly. Cutting staff won’t touch content, Netflix’s biggest expense.
Sources told the publication the announcement could come as early as next week, with the streamer under pressure over slowing viewer engagement and a share price that has slid through the year. “Overall, we’re not growing as fast as I want us to,” he said. The numbers add up quickly. It is still unclear which teams will be hit hardest. The news also lands as layoffs spread across the media business, with Disney cutting jobs three times this year. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos admitted as much at a Bloomberg event last month. Netflix is still growing. Spending outside content grew faster, though. Investors will also want to hear how ads, live events and gaming are meant to pick up the growth. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
Smaller rounds have followed, including several dozen roles in its global product team earlier this year.