Netflix offices in Los Angeles.Unplash
Netflix announced Tuesday that it has laid off 150 employees following a drop in subscribers in April.
"These changes are mainly due to business needs and not due to the performance of workers," the digital platform reported in a statement addressed to its workforce.
Most of these cuts are from personnel hired in the United States.
The layoffs represent almost 2% of the number of employees that Netflix has in North American countries.
"We are working very hard to help our colleagues in this difficult transition," the internal document said.
The company reported on April 19 that it had lost 200,000 subscribers.
The prices of the securities fell by 40% on the stock market after the announcement.
This was the first reported bloodletting of users by the
streaming
giant in a decade.
Much has been said since then to explain the setback.
From the impact of the internal change to prevent users from sharing their passwords to the blow caused by the war in Ukraine and the growth of competition such as Disney + and Amazon Prime services.
"The slowdown in growth also means that we must reduce our costs as a company," a spokesman said in a statement.
Although this is the most egregious, it is Netflix's second job cut in less than a month.
At the end of April, the company announced that it was laying off several employees of a service called Tudum, in charge of promoting new titles on the platform since last December.
The hit was especially visible on social media because many of the affected people, who had been hired weeks before, took their anger out on social media.
Last week was the most difficult week of my life.
Just when I thought I was out of the woods, I was laid off by Netflix today, along with dozens of the most talented people I've ever met.
Please consider me for your freelance assignments.
Thank you all in advance for your love
— Tess Garcia (@HiThisIsTess) May 17, 2022
Among the people laid off this Tuesday are journalists, communication managers, marketing employees and content writers.
“I am one of those fired by Netflix today … I am very upset by the lack of tact of the company in this situation and by all the people who depended on this job to survive,” said Tiffany Vazquez on Twitter.
Other people turned to the social network to look for a new job.
"I want a job as a writer on a TV show... If anyone knows of anything please let me know," Jill Gutowitz posted.
Most of those who left the company on Tuesday were in Los Angeles.
Netflix has advanced some keys that could help get it out of the doldrums in the next quarter.
Among these options would be a basic, cheaper service that could show some ads to users.
This is similar to what some of its US competitors offer, such as Disney-owned Hulu.
Spencer Neumann has also told investors that he will cut some spending in the coming months.
The investment in new content, of 17,000 million dollars, will not be touched and remains one of the pillars for the company.
The cuts in recent weeks are something new for the company, which stepped on the hiring accelerator after the first year of the pandemic, when the confinement triggered the reproduction of series and movies around the world.
As of last December, Netflix had 11,300 full-time workers.
