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Netflix has cut off approximately 150 employees, just a month after announcing that it has lost customers for the first time in a decade.
The streaming service announced the layoffs on Tuesday, affecting mostly its California location. They make up around 2% of the company’s North American workforce.
Netflix attributed the employment cuts to a drop in income.
This year, the streaming service is seeing a viewer exodus.
“These changes are primarily driven by business needs rather than individual performance,” the company said in a statement. “This makes them especially difficult because none of us want to say goodbye to such great colleagues.”
Although it was not specified which sectors of the company would lose jobs, the Los Angeles Times stated that recruiting, communications, and the content department would all be affected.
In April, the streaming behemoth stunned the industry by revealing that it had lost 200,000 customers in the first three months of 2022, with another two million set to leave in the next quarter.
The announcement caused a sell-off among investors, with the company’s stock dropping 35% in one day. It is now worth $190 (£152), down 46 percent from its recent high.
While Netflix continues to be the obvious market leader with 220 million users worldwide, it has experienced severe competition in recent years with the introduction of alternative services such as Disney Plus, HBO, and Amazon’s Prime Video.
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Last month, the corporation reported that the situation in Ukraine and its decision to raise pricing in the United States had cost it customers.
It was claimed that leaving the Russian market had cost the firm 700,000 users.
In addition to employee cuts, the corporation is reducing content and limiting its own creations. In an effort to save money, it terminated the creation of Pearl, an animated series produced by Meghan Markle.
According to some analysts, Netflix has ran out of straightforward methods to build the business after a boom in sign-ups during the pandemic.
The company claims it is considering a more cost-effective ad-based approach, as well as tightening down on password sharing, which it claims has cost it 100 million homes.
