Netflix has spent years telling Hollywood it was different from the traditional studios. This week, it looked a lot more like one.
The streaming giant has eliminated roughly 1,000 jobs, about 6 percent of its global workforce, in what is believed to be the biggest round of layoffs in company history. The cuts have hit product, technology, legal and human resources hardest, but they have also reached deeply into Netflix’s film, television, animation, unscripted and casting operations.
The restructuring comes just days before Netflix reports third-quarter earnings on October 20, at a moment when the company faces something it has not had to deal with very often: serious questions about where the next stage of growth comes from.
Netflix remains enormously profitable and has more than 325 million customers worldwide, but viewership growth has slowed. Engagement increased only about 2 percent during the first half of 2026, while competition from YouTube, TikTok, Tubi and other free platforms continues to intensify. Netflix shares have also taken a significant hit over the past year.
In a memo to employees, co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said the company needed to become more disciplined about where it puts its people and resources. “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 wrote.
That discipline is now being felt across Los Angeles and throughout Netflix’s global operation.
Among the most significant film departures is Doug Belgrad, VP of Film, who previously served as president of Columbia Pictures. Film director Sheroum Kim was also among those let go.
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On the scripted television side, the cuts include several long-serving executives.
Lisa Lang McMullen, Director of Overall Deals and Series, is out after joining Netflix in 2021 following 12 years at Disney.
James Oh, Director of Drama Series, was also let go. He joined Netflix in 2021 after serving as an executive at Jerry Bruckheimer Television.
Andrew McQuinn, Director of Original Series, had been with Netflix since 2018 and worked on titles including American Primeval, Zero Day and Griselda.
Carolina Garcia, another Director of Original Series, exits after roughly a decade at the streamer. Her credits included major Netflix series such as Stranger Things.
Managers Jason Pan, Aaron Davidson and Dan Evans were also affected. Pan worked in original series, Davidson in adult animation comedy, and Evans in original animation.
The cuts have also reached Netflix’s unscripted operation.
Amy Cohen, Director of Nonfiction Series, was let go after nearly 10 years at Netflix. Rich Leist, Director of Unscripted Casting, and casting executive Annie Roberts were also among those affected. Leist helped build Netflix’s first internal casting department after joining the company in 2021.
And then came the biggest name of the week.
One day after the layoffs were announced, Netflix confirmed that Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria is leaving the company after a decade. Her exit is technically a separate leadership change from the 1,000-person reduction, but the timing makes it impossible to view the moves in isolation.
Bajaria had been Netflix’s top content executive since 2023, overseeing film, scripted and unscripted television, international programming and the company’s expansion into live events and sports. During her tenure, Netflix delivered global hits including Squid Game, Bridgerton, Wednesday and KPop Demon Hunters.
She will be replaced by Peter Rice, the former chairman of Walt Disney Television and longtime Fox executive, who takes over as Chief Content Officer on October 26.
Sarandos called Rice “one of the most effective at-scale operators in the entertainment industry,” citing his combination of business experience, talent relationships and background across both film and television.
The executive change gives this week’s layoffs a much larger strategic dimension.
Netflix is not simply trimming tech or HR overhead. It is changing leadership at the top of its content operation while cutting experienced executives across the very teams responsible for finding, developing and producing the shows and movies viewers actually watch.
That is happening even as Netflix still grows revenue at double-digit rates. Revenue rose 13.4 percent year over year in the second quarter to $12.6 billion, while its operating margin remained above 33 percent. The company says it remains on track to meet its full-year forecast.
So this is not a company fighting for survival.
It is a company trying to figure out how to keep growing after many of the levers that powered its last decade – global expansion, password-sharing enforcement, price increases, and the ad-supported tier – have already been pulled.
Netflix has also been expanding into sports, live programming, advertising, games and creator-driven content while competing not only with Disney, Amazon and other streamers but with platforms that offer endless free content.
The company’s failed pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this year only added another layer of uncertainty about how aggressively Netflix wants to reshape itself.
For the roughly 1,000 employees who lost their jobs this week, though, the strategic explanation is secondary.
The immediate reality is that the entertainment industry has lost another large block of experienced executives, producers, technologists, and support staff at a time when Hollywood employment is already under pressure.
Netflix may still be the world’s largest premium streaming service. But this week made one thing clear: even the industry leader is no longer immune to Hollywood’s new age of contraction.
