Netflix Cuts 1,000 Jobs Amid Slowing Growth and YouTube Rivalry

Netflix will lay off about 1,000 employees, roughly 6% of its 16,000-person workforce, marking the largest job cuts in the company's 29-year history. Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters informed staff that reductions will primarily hit product, technology, legal, and human resources teams, with affected workers notified through managers and offered transition support.

The move comes despite strong financial results: 2025 revenue rose 16% to $45.2 billion and net profit jumped 26% to $11 billion. However, growth momentum is slowing. Sarandos admitted in September the company is "not growing as fast as I want us to," and shares have fallen about 43% over the past year.

“Overall, we're not growing as fast as I want us to, and we're working on making that move faster.”

Competition from free, user-generated platforms has intensified. According to Nielsen, YouTube now commands 14% of U.S. TV viewing time versus Netflix's 7.8%, down from 8.8% a year earlier. Digital i data across 20 markets shows average daily YouTube usage rose to 99.1 minutes in 2025 while Netflix usage fell to 93.4 minutes.

Netflix also lost a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery assets to Paramount Skydance this year. The company maintains it remains on track for its full-year revenue forecast of $51–51.4 billion, though operating margin dipped slightly to 33.4% in the second quarter.

Critics on social media questioned the timing, noting Netflix paid $587 million in March to acquire Ben Affleck's AI firm InterPositive while cutting jobs. The previous largest layoff round in 2022 removed about 450 positions.