Netflix is preparing to cut about 5% of its workforce in a restructuring that could eliminate roughly 800 jobs and would land ten days before the streamer reports its Q3 2026 earnings on October 20. The planned cuts, first reported by Puck News on October 9 and confirmed by Variety and the Los Angeles Times through people familiar with the plans, would be the largest single layoff round at the Los Gatos company since 2022, and would land inside a year in which subscriber viewing hours grew only about 2% and Netflix's stock has lost more than 40%.
- Planned reduction
- 5% of Netflix workforce, around 800 jobs based on ~16,000 employees at year-end 2025
- Netflix year-end 2025 employees
- About 16,000 full-time, with roughly 68% (around 10,900) in the United States and Canada
- Q3 2026 earnings date
- Tuesday, October 20, 2026, after market close, per Netflix investor relations
- Last major layoffs
- 2022, when Netflix cut around 450 staff after a net loss of about 200,000 subscribers in Q1 2022
- Stock context
- Netflix stock closed Friday, October 9, at $70.30, down about 21% year to date and 43% versus a year earlier
The numbers behind the reported 5%
Netflix is preparing to cut about 5% of its workforce in a restructuring that could eliminate roughly 800 jobs, according to a Puck News report published on October 9 and confirmed to other outlets by people familiar with the plans. The streamer ended 2025 with about 16,000 full-time employees, with roughly 68% of them, around 10,900, based in the United States and Canada, so a 5% reduction maps to a headcount in the high hundreds even if the final list of cuts is smaller.
A Netflix spokesperson declined to comment on the report. The company has not posted an official layoff notice on its investor relations site, which currently lists only routine quarterly filings and an upcoming Q3 2026 earnings call scheduled for Tuesday, October 20, after market close.
Where the cuts appear to be landing
Sources told the Los Angeles Times that the reduction will reach the creative team, including groups that work on Netflix features, and that the planned cuts are expected to be the largest at the Los Gatos company since 2022. Variety added that no single department has been publicly singled out, and that the announcement is targeted for the week of October 13 if the plans hold.
The script-led group led by Jinny Howe, which oversees series work including the recent bets on first-time showrunners and on franchises like "Stranger Things" and "Outer Banks" reaching their final seasons, has been described in industry coverage as one of the more exposed parts of the content slate.
Engagement cooled and investors are watching
Behind the timing is a growth picture that looks softer than Netflix's earlier playbook. Viewing hours rose only about 2% year over year in the first half of 2026, while content spending climbed, and second quarter revenue guidance came in below analyst expectations. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos told the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles late last month that the company is still growing but "not as fast as I want us to," and pointed to live programming as a drag that costs 5% of the content budget and draws about 1% of viewing.
Netflix stock closed Friday at $70.30, down roughly 21% year to date and about 43% below the level it traded at a year earlier. On TV screens in the United States, Nielsen measured YouTube at 14.2% of viewing hours in July against 7.8% for Netflix, a gap that has put extra pressure on the company's advertising and engagement pitches.
Smaller trims through 2026 have been building to this
The October plan would be the largest single Netflix layoff round since 2022, when the company cut around 450 staff after a net subscriber loss of roughly 200,000 in the first quarter, its first decline in more than a decade. In the years since, Netflix has leaned on price increases, an ad-supported tier and a password-sharing crackdown to keep its top line moving.
Through 2026 the company has already made targeted cuts. Earlier this year it let go of several dozen members of its global product team. In August it closed its Hollywood gaming studio Night School and began closing its Helsinki studio Moonloot. A 5% workforce reduction would lift the cumulative size of those moves by a wide margin and would land ten days before Netflix's next earnings call, when Wall Street will weigh the same numbers the layoff plan is built around.
What happens next
If Netflix follows the timeline described in the original report, employees will be told about the cuts during the week of October 13. Severance terms, eligible regions and which business units absorb the reductions should become visible as internal notifications spread, although Netflix has not signaled any change to its official no comment on the report.
The October 20 earnings call is now the next fixed checkpoint. Investors will look for confirmation of the cost structure the layoff plan implies, updated engagement language from co-CEOs Sarandos and Greg Peters, and any commentary on the engagement gap with YouTube that the company has been arguing is a launchpad rather than a ceiling.
Primary source
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Netflix Investor Relations is the source to consult for the underlying data, statement, ruling or live context.