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Netflix Lays Off 300 More Employees
posted on by Adriana Hazra
The Hollywood Reporter reported on Thursday that Netflix released a memo stating that it has laid off another 300 employees from its workforce. The Hollywood Reporter stated the layoffs constitute around 3% of the company's current workforce.
The Hollywood Reporter added the layoffs affected 216 staff members in the United States; 30 in Asia-Pacific; 53 in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa; and 17 in Latin America.
Co-CEO of Netflix Reed Hastings stated in the memo that the company will add 1,500 staff members for a new total of 11,500 in the next 18 months. “Over the longer term, much of our growth will come from outside the U.S.,” he stated, adding that the company is focusing on "creative development, personalization, and language presentation/localization."
The company plans to expand its revenue model through the introduction of ad-supported subscription tiers. The Hollywood Reporter added Netflix currently has jobs available in gaming but not in advertising. The company has so far acquired Texas-based game development studio Boss Fight Studios, California-based Night School Studio, and Finland-based Next Games.
Netflix laid off about 150 employees, mostly based in the United States, in May. The layoffs affected about 2% of the company's workforce, and brought changes to its animation division with 70 roles eliminated.
Netflix had explained to Deadline that the layoffs were due to "slowing revenue growth," and were primarily business-driven instead of performance-driven layoffs.
Netflix revealed in April that it had lost about 200,000 subscribers from January to March — far below the company's earlier projection of a gain of 2.5 million subscribers, and the service's first drop in subscriptions in a decade. Later that month, Deadline reported on an earlier round of layoffs in Netflix's marketing, particularly at its fan outreach site Tudum.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter (J. Clara Chan) (link 2, Alex Weprin), Indiewire (Chris Lindahl), Business Insider (Travis Clark)
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