Netflix shake-up: Peter Rice is welcomed to executive ranks while Bella Bajaria's exit shakes up tired staff as they prepare for more upheaval

Call it the six-year itch—amid falling stock prices and slowing engagement growth, Ted Saranos has made a change, replacing Peter Rice with Netflix chief content officer Bill Bajaria, a 10-year Netflix veteran. Netflix's CEO made a similar move in September 2020, when he replaced head of English-language series Cindy Holland, an 18-year-old […]

Call it the six-year itch — amid falling stock prices and slowing engagement growth, Ted Sarandos has made a change, replacing Peter Rice with chief content officer Bela Bajaria, a 10-year Netflix veteran. Netflix's CEO made a similar move in September 2020, when he replaced 18-year company veteran Cindy Holland with Bajaria.

Holland's departure was shocking. Bajaria had been rumored for months, but Netflix denied it, even when Rice's name floated late last week. Rumors suggest Bajaria may not have been told of the change until recently, some say possibly on Monday when he accepted the Variety Award at MIPCOM in Cannes. (He's also slated to receive an International Emmy next month.) RELATED SPORTS STORIES Peter Rice, director of new content for Netflix, will continue as LA28's opening and closing ceremony EP.

Neither Sarandos nor Bajaria were at Wednesday night's Nobody Wants This Season 3 premiere. (They last attended the premiere of Animals together two weeks ago.) It didn't seem too suspicious at the time, as the event marked a difficult day at Netflix, with about 1,000 employees out of a job, including film and television executives. Bajaria is said to have attended a town hall held by UCAN script department head Ginny Ho on Wednesday afternoon amid the layoffs, making her exit today sudden and shocking to staff. Watch the deadline

"It's dark and doom," one person said of the internal atmosphere at Netflix, where executives spend most of the day behind closed doors. "Everybody's freaking out."

That's because Wednesday's layoffs, the largest in Netflix history, were the first of several shocks to the system. While the cuts were expected to be followed by restructuring, the restructuring may now be deeper and include more operational changes than anticipated. There were hints of that in yesterday's layoffs, as the TV studio group was hit hard as agents and producers noted that the current setup didn't make much sense.

Amid interactive challenges that have hurt Netflix's stock, things have already been tough, as hit series have failed to live up to expectations and most returning shows have seen season-over-season declines in viewership over the past year. Misses will have Bajaria's backlash, which I've heard has been demoralizing for those on the other side. Over the past year, eight TV executives have left the broadcaster after Howe's predecessor, Peter Friedlander, to join rival Amazon studio MGM.

With Rice starting in 10 days, the immediate focus may be on the top film job held by Dan Lynn, who, like Bajaria, has been the subject of parting speculation for months.

That means he won't need a learning curve in the way that TV executives like Bajaria and former Amazon MGM studio head Jennifer Salk have added when they oversee film and can start making film decisions right away.

Aside from persistent rumors about former Warner Bros. bosses Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdi, which could not be substantiated, no clear favorites have emerged for the job, with a number of domestic and foreign names tossed around, but like Bajaria, there is enough smoke to point to a pending fire.

While Rice may be well-versed in film and television, she comes to Netflix with no broadcast experience. Industry insiders don't see it as an issue.

"He knows how to read a script and make it better," an agent said. This is his secret sauce.

However, there is one element of streamer work that no one is prepared for - volume. This is especially true of Netflix, which is the largest of the platforms with the widest global reach. One noted that the sheer number of titles was enough to drive Rice's head.

That could be a reason for him not to make high-level executive changes on TV, where Howe oversees a massive set, in order to keep the giant machine moving.

Returning to the executive ranks after a four-and-a-half-year hiatus, Rice has been welcomed by the Hollywood community, calling him "smart and talented," "a consummate professional" and "a gentleman."

That explains the reaction when news of his appointment broke Thursday afternoon.

"There were cheers in the corridors," said one representative.

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