Netflix is laying off 150 employees and dozens of contractors as it tries to cut costs after the latest earnings report showed slow revenue growth, the company said.
“These changes are primarily driven by business needs rather than individual performance, which makes them especially tough as none of us want to say goodbye to such great colleagues,” Netflix said in a statement to SFGATE. “We’re working hard to support them through this very difficult transition.”
The streaming giant is revamping its animation division and 70 roles are being eliminated in that unit alone, Variety reported.
The terminated positions represent less than 2% of the streaming giants 11,000 employees and most of the cuts are happening in the U.S., multiple media outlets reported.
This news comes after the Los Gatos-based company reported that it lost more than 200,000 paid subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, marking the first time Netflix has lost customers in over a decade.
“Our revenue growth has slowed considerably,” the company said in its letter to shareholders. “Streaming is winning over linear, as we predicted, and Netflix titles are very popular globally. However, our relatively high household penetration – when including the large number of households sharing accounts – combined with competition, is creating revenue growth headwinds.”
Netflix said in the letter that growth slowed due to competition from other streaming services, such as Amazon and Hulu, and subscribers sharing passwords with people who aren’t paying for the service.
Netflix told employees earlier this month that it plans to bring back subscribers with a lower-cost ad-supported tier that could be available as early as the end of this year, the New York Times reported.
Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.