Netflix cuts ~1,000 employees in largest layoff, games affected
Key takeaways
- ~1,000 layoffs, about 6% of workforce
- 2025 revenue: $45.2 billion, up 16% YoY
Netflix announced plans to cut roughly 1,000 employees — about 6% of its workforce — in what the company called organisational changes that will hit product, technology, legal and HR teams, and will also affect its games division. Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters told staff in an internal email that leaders will connect with impacted employees soon and that the company’s priority is supporting those who are leaving. A Next Games HR team member, Licia Prehn, confirmed on LinkedIn that she will depart following the cuts and praised her time with Next Games and Netflix.
The layoffs come after a strong financial year: Netflix reported $45.2 billion in revenue for 2025, a 16% increase year-over-year, while net income rose to $11 billion, up 26%. The company had roughly 16,000 full-time employees at the end of 2025. Netflix acquired Finnish developer Next Games in 2022; the company has not disclosed how many staff at Next Games will be affected by this round of cuts. Earlier in 2026 Netflix made smaller reductions, including within its global product team, and the last major layoff before this was in 2022 when about 450 roles were cut.
Sarandos and Peters framed the reductions as a reallocation of resources toward priority areas in the same staff email: “Team - we wanted to share that we are making a number of organisational changes and, as a result, we’ll be letting go of roughly 6% of our colleagues, with the greatest impact to our product, tech, legal and HR teams,” they wrote. The co-CEOs added that the process will vary by country and that company leaders will be contacting affected employees directly. Licia Prehn’s LinkedIn post was specific and personal: she said she truly loved working for Next Games and Netflix and is now seeking new roles.
Why it matters
Netflix provided revenue guidance for 2026 of $51 billion to $51.4 billion and is scheduled to report third-quarter 2026 results on October 20. You can take two concrete notes from that timeline: the company is trimming headcount now while projecting another revenue step-up next year, and the October 20 results will be the next public checkpoint where revenue, profit and any further commentary on organisation changes will appear.
Original source
PocketGamer.biz
