Netflix is preparing layoffs that would cut about 5% of its workforce, a restructuring that could be announced as early as next week, a report says.
Variety reported that the streaming company is planning a significant reduction in force that would hit roughly one in twenty staffers, citing a Puck News account based on anonymous sources.
A Netflix spokesperson declined to comment. The company is scheduled to release third-quarter 2026 earnings after the market closes on Tuesday, Oct. 20, adding pressure to any near-term announcement.
If the figure holds against Netflix’s end-of-2025 headcount of about 16,000 full-time employees, the cuts would eliminate around 800 jobs. As of December, roughly 68% of the workforce, about 10,900 people, worked in the United States and Canada.
This would not be Netflix’s first major downsizing. In 2022 the company laid off about 450 staffers after posting a first-quarter net decline of 200,000 subscribers, its first such drop in more than a decade.
Earlier in 2026, Netflix let go several dozen members of its global product team in a smaller round of cutbacks. The new plan, if executed at the reported scale, would be larger than either of those earlier moves.
No departments have been publicly identified as primary targets. The Puck News report did not name which units would absorb the heaviest losses, and Netflix has not filled in that detail.
Last month, co-CEO Ted Sarandos spoke at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles and addressed the company’s pace of expansion and user engagement.
He pointed to solid regional results even as overall momentum fell short of his target.
"Yes, overall, we’re not growing as fast as I want us to, and we’re working on making that move faster."
Sarandos also said the company wants faster growth and noted double-digit revenue gains in every geographical region in the second quarter. User engagement rose 2% year-over-year in the first half of 2026, positive, but not the acceleration leadership is seeking.
He singled out live programming as a drag on efficiency. Netflix now spends about 5% of its content budget on live events, a relatively new category for the platform, yet those shows create only about 1% of total watching.
"also doing things that create a lot of headwind to that number. Meaning, when we do live programming on Netflix, which is a relatively new thing, we spend about 5% of our content budget on live events. They create about 1% of our watching."
In plain terms, the company is pouring a sizable share of content dollars into programming that barely moves the viewing needle. That mismatch is the kind of math that eventually forces hard choices on headcount.
"We want to keep growing it faster."
Netflix’s second-quarter earnings landed in line with Wall Street forecasts. But the company’s third-quarter revenue guidance came in below analyst expectations, and the stock price fell on that outlook.
A workforce reduction of this size would land just as investors scrutinize whether the streaming giant can restore faster growth without the heavy cost structure built during earlier expansion years.
The timing remains relative. The Puck account said the restructuring “could be announced as early as next week” from the Oct. 9 report date. Exact timing, final job numbers, and the business units most affected have not been confirmed by the company.
Anonymous sourcing leaves open questions about precision and motive. Netflix has offered no public rationale for the reported round beyond the broader comments Sarandos already made about growth and content returns.
For employees, the pattern is familiar: rapid hiring in boom periods, then sharp reductions when subscriber momentum, engagement gains, or revenue guidance disappoint. The 2022 cuts followed a subscriber drop. The latest plan follows softer guidance and leadership’s own admission that growth is slower than desired and that live events are an expensive underperformer.
Companies that spend 5% of the content budget for 1% of the viewing eventually face a choice. Payroll is often where that choice lands.