Giant streaming platform Netflix is getting ready for further layoffs by the end of the week. The paid subscription based service has seen its stock tumble to all time lows and hundreds of thousands of its subscribers left the service in the first quarter. The company had laid off staff in May and is expected to layoff staff in June as well, as early as the end of this week. The company is expecting about two million subscribers to leave in the second quarter.
Variety reported that that the streaming giant had laid off 150 employees, in May. Several dozens of contract workers and part time workers also lost their jobs. Although details on the next round of layoffs had not been mentioned, it had been stated that there would be another round of job cuts. There are almost 11,000 global workers at Netflix.
Netflix has seen its share value decline by about 70 percent after it lost roughly 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of the year. The Q1 report led to huge selloffs. In January a share of Netflix had a value of more than $600. Today, a share of the streaming platform is about $175.
Being a pioneer in streaming services, Netflix gained a huge market. However, competition such as Disney, ComCast and Warner Bros. Discovery have pumped in huge money into streaming. Now, streaming platforms such as Peacock, Disney+ and HBO Max are luring away viewers with original programming and other services.
The Los Gatos, California based company had seen huge gains during the pandemic. Netflix lost a large number of subscribers after exiting Russia and cracking down on multiple accounts under the same subscription.
In an interview with The Times last month, CEO of Netflix Ted Sarandos acknowledged that the platform had resisted advertising on its streaming platform, for “simplicity of one product, one price point.” He told The Times that they could consider “complexity” in future. This might include advertisements inked to a lower paid subscription service or other options.
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