Netflix is preparing a substantial round of layoffs that could affect roughly 5% of its workforce, or about 800 people, according to people familiar with the cuts. The reduction, which would reportedly hit the company's creative team including feature film workers, would mark the streaming giant's biggest layoffs since 2022 — and it comes before the company reports third-quarter earnings on October 20.
The layoffs were first reported by Puck and detailed further by the Los Angeles Times, which cited people familiar with the planned cuts. Netflix, the Los Gatos company, declined to comment on the reported plans. If Netflix's annual report figure of roughly 16,000 full-time employees as of the end of 2025 holds, a 5% reduction would land close to the 800-worker estimate cited by sources, according to DemandSage. About 68% of that workforce is based in the United States and Canada.
Pressure From Wall Street and a YouTube Problem
The timing is hardly a coincidence. Netflix has been under investor scrutiny over subscriber viewing time, and the numbers have not been kind: view hours rose only about 2% in the first half of 2026 compared with a year earlier even as content spending climbed, per the Los Angeles Times report. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos acknowledged the slowdown directly, saying, “Overall we're not growing as fast as I want us to, and we're working on making that move faster.”
Nielsen data cited in that same report shows YouTube is now the leader in U.S. streaming viewing hours on televisions, commanding a 14.2% share in July compared with Netflix's 7.8% share. Netflix's stock has declined 43% compared with a year earlier, closing at $70.30 on Friday, October 9, down about 2% that day.
Live Programming
Netflix has said live programming can spur significant subscription sign-ups even though live events still represent only a small percentage of total watch time, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The pending cuts would not be Netflix's first trim of 2026. The company filed a WARN notice with California's Employment Development Department on August 13 disclosing 59 job eliminations in Los Angeles, according to the Law Offices of Justin Silverman. That same month, Netflix closed its Hollywood-based gaming studio Night School and was shutting down Helsinki-based studio Moonloot, per IGN's report on the closures.
Industry Consolidation Looms Large
Netflix's belt-tightening also arrives against a backdrop of seismic industry consolidation. Paramount Skydance officially completed its $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6, after Netflix had earlier withdrawn its own $83 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery assets once the price climbed too high, Axios reported. Should the current round of layoffs go through, it would represent Netflix's largest since 2022, when the company laid off 150 workers in May and another 300 — roughly 3% of staff — in June of that year.
Even as it prepares to shrink its headcount, Netflix has continued investing in other corners of its operation. The company joined Amazon and YouTube last month to launch the Streaming Access and Choice Alliance, a Washington, D.C., lobbying coalition formed to defend exclusive live sports streaming against federal scrutiny over rising subscription costs, as Hoodline previously reported. Netflix has also planned a downtown Washington office and entertainment destination.
Netflix is also contending with legal headwinds outside the entertainment business itself. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued the company in September, alleging improper tracking of children's viewing data, following a similar suit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in May. Those cases add to the list of pressures facing Netflix as it heads into its October 20 earnings report, where investors will be watching closely to see whether the promised cost discipline shows up in the numbers.
