Tech layoffs continue—this time at Netflix and MasterClass

By Rebecca Barker

June 23, 2022

The tech layoffs keep coming. On Thursday, Netflix laid off an additional 300 employees, or about 3% of its staff. The company had previously laid off 150 employees in May.

“Today we sadly let go of around 300 employees. While we continue to invest significantly in the business, we made these adjustments so that our costs are growing in line with our slower revenue growth,” a Netflix spokesperson told Fast Company in a statement. “We are so grateful for everything they have done for Netflix and are working hard to support them through this difficult transition.”

This announcement is part of a recent spike in tech layoffs. More than 16,000 tech employees lost their jobs in May while over 7,000 have been affected so far this June. Founder and CEO of MasterClass David Rogier announced that the company had laid off 20% of its staff—or about 120 employees—to “adapt to the worsening macro environment.”

 

 

 

Back in April, Netflix disclosed that it had lost 200,000 subscribers—the first time in a decade that the streaming service reported a decrease in customers. The company has been steadily losing revenue, despite raising the price of all of its subscription offerings in January, and the company’s stock has dropped by about 70% in the past six months.

In April, Netflix announced it would create a new, less expensive subscription option for customers willing to sit through advertisements. At the Cannes Lion Festival Thursday, co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos said that he wanted the new ad-supported tier to be a better experience than broadcast television. “What I want our product to be is better than TV,” he said. “So when I think about how ads are currently served on streaming . . . I think there’s a lot more work to be done there.”

 
 
 

 

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