Business
Netflix cuts about 1,000 jobs and fires content chief Bela Bajaria in reorganization
The layoffs affect about 6 percent of Netflix's global workforce, and film chief Dan Lin was dismissed over the weekend. Peter Rice takes over film duties until a successor is chosen, with the next earnings report due on 20 October 2026.
- Week of 12 October 2026About 1,000 layoffs announced; chief content officer Bela Bajaria fired
- Weekend of 17-18 October 2026Film chief Dan Lin dismissed
- 20 October 2026Quarterly earnings report scheduled
Layoffs and reorganization
Netflix has cut about 1,000 employees, or about 6 percent of its global workforce, in the week of 12 October 2026. Industry media cited by RMF24 describe it as the largest reduction in the company's staff since 2022. Coverage frames the overhaul as an effort to lift a platform that has been stalling. The cuts came alongside a wider set of executive changes that Vulture links to the company's recent weak performance with viewers.
Leadership exits
Chief content officer Bela Bajaria was fired in the same week as the layoffs, a move Vulture says took Hollywood by surprise. Film chief Dan Lin, who had led the film division for almost three years, was dismissed over the weekend of 17-18 October. According to Reuters, Peter Rice, who was named director of content shortly before this change, will take over film duties until a new head of films is chosen.
An anonymous Hollywood agent quoted by Vulture attributed the firing to the stock price and to pressure on co-CEO Ted Sarandos. As of Monday morning, 19 October, Netflix shares were trading about a dollar below their level before the layoffs, Vulture reported.
Content and viewership
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Netflix is not drawing viewers as strongly as its leadership wants, a gap it says is visible in subscriber numbers. Bloomberg argues that the service has lost the buzzy shows that once set it apart from rivals.
Josef Adalian, writing in Vulture, disputes that Bajaria's exit reflects a quality problem.
“I don't buy the idea that Bajaria is gone because Netflix has a quality problem.”
Adalian points to Adolescence, Wednesday and Hunting Wives as recent hits, and credits Bajaria's team with turning the KPop Demon Hunters movie, acquired from Sony, into a phenom. He argues that her broad-appeal approach followed from Sarandos's early goal of making shows that many people watch. He also concedes that Netflix has had no hit on the scale of Stranger Things or Bridgerton in years.
Next steps
Netflix's next quarterly earnings report is scheduled for 20 October 2026. Vulture frames the open question as what the reorganization means for the company's future. Until then, the new leadership's plan to produce large, widely discussed hits remains untested in the results.