By Netflix Inc. announced a layoff of about 300 people on Thursday, its second significant staff reduction in recent weeks.
“Today we sadly let go of around 300 employees,” a Netflix
NFLX,
+1.58%
spokesperson told MarketWatch. “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. We are so grateful for everything they have done for Netflix and are working hard to support them through this difficult transition.”
The cuts, first reported by Variety, are across business functions and mostly in the U.S.
In mid-May, the streaming service said it was eliminating about 150 jobs, representing about 1.3% of the 11,300 employees reported at the end of 2021; filings with the state of California showed 106 layoffs in that state effective at the end of April. The cutbacks had been expected since Netflix reported in April that global subscribers declined by 200,000 during the first three months of the year — its first such drop in more than a decade — and executives said they would look to cut costs.
See also: Netflix co-CEO Sarandos says streaming service is bringing ads to platform
Netflix is not alone — other tech companies have announced cuts in recent months amid a seeming slowdown in pandemic-influenced gains. Coinbase Global Inc.
COIN,
+13.43%,
Redfin Corp.
RDFN,
+8.80%,
Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
-0.43%,
Robinhood Markets Inc.
HOOD,
+6.54%
and PayPal Holdings Inc.
PYPL,
+1.15%
have all announced or executed layoffs in recent months.
For more: Tech companies are shifting to layoffs after a huge ramp up in hiring
Netflix stock was trading about 0.4% lower in afternoon trading Thursday, when the layoffs were announced. Shares have lost more than 70% of their value so far this year, as the S&P 500 index
SPX,
+0.95%
has declined 21.1%.
