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Bulletins

Netflix is laying off hundreds of workers again

The streaming service said it had let go of about 300 employees on Thursday, a month after laying off 150 people.

Netflix sign

Netflix continues to reduce its workforce to cut costs while it finds other avenues to grow revenue.

Photo: Netflix

Netflix is laying off hundreds of workers in its second round of layoffs in roughly a month, according to a report from CNBC on Thursday.

The streaming service has been struggling of late with a declining stock price due to slow growth and subscriber cancellations. “Today we sadly let go of around 300 employees,” Netflix said in a statement to CNBC. “While we continue to invest significantly in the business, we made these adjustments so that our costs are growing in line with our slower revenue growth. We are so grateful for everything they have done for Netflix and are working hard to support them through this difficult transition.”

Netflix has been reducing its workforce since it reported disastrous Q1 earnings in April showing the platform had lost 200,000 subscribers globally in the fist quarter of 2022. In May, the company let go of about 150 employees and additional contractors, with the company citing cost cutting.

That followed a marketing restructure in April unrelated to the earnings that nonetheless resulted in nearly two dozen layoffs, including some employees of Netflix's entertainment website Tudum. As Protocol reported last month, dozens of these employees came from marginalized backgrounds, representing a substantial step back for Netflix's diversity efforts.

Now, Netflix is adding hundreds more employees to the list as it tries to cut costs. The company is also exploring other options to salvage its revenue decline and slowing growth, including an ad-supported version of the service and a crackdown on password sharing.

Update June 23, 3:18PM ET: Clarified that Netflix's layoffs in April were part of a marketing restructure unrelated to its Q1 earnings.

Nick Statt

Nick Statt is Protocol's video game reporter. Prior to joining Protocol, he was news editor at The Verge covering the gaming industry, mobile apps and antitrust out of San Francisco, in addition to managing coverage of Silicon Valley tech giants and startups. He now resides in Rochester, New York, home of the garbage plate and, completely coincidentally, the World Video Game Hall of Fame. He can be reached at nstatt@protocol.com.

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