Important Message from Netflix Senior Executives: What Are the Media Giant's Plans for 2026?
Despite a relative drop in share value, the platform's executives announced revenue growth and new financial targets.
Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, co-CEOs of Netflix, wrote in an email to employees about the layoffs on Wednesday that the majority of the layoffs will affect employees in the product, technology, legal and human resources units of the company. In the memo, a copy of which was obtained by Variety, the two stated: Our mission, which is to entertain people around the world, is an ambitious goal, and its realization requires that we prioritize people and resources. A spokesperson for Netflix announced that the company will not comment on the matter beyond Sarandos and Peters' memo. Netflix, which is the largest provider of high-end online content streaming services in the entertainment industry with more than 325 million customers worldwide, has recorded double-digit growth in revenue and profits in recent years. The company will generate revenue of $45.2 billion in 2025 (with growth 16 percent) and recorded a net profit equal to 11 billion dollars (with a growth of 26 percent). However, investors have been concerned that Netflix's user engagement per user has declined in the first half of 2026.
"Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to meet our full-year financial guidance," Sarandos and Peters wrote in their note. Netflix expects revenue of $51 billion to $51.4 billion for 2026, representing growth of 13 percent to 14 percent. The company also forecasts an operating margin of 31.5 percent—up from 29.5 percent in 2024. The two co-CEOs added: "We will continue to invest aggressively in the areas of greatest impact to improve our services and further drive growth and innovation. However, they emphasized that "to do this, we must make targeted and focused decisions across the business. So that we can continue to fulfill our commitments to our members, business partners, employees and investors.” Netflix had about 16,000 full-time employees at the end of 2025. The last major wave of Netflix layoffs occurred in 2022; When the company laid off about 450 employees after its subscriber base fell by a net 200,000 in the first quarter of that year. This was the first time in more than a decade that Netflix faced such a decline in the number of its subscribers.
The company has made smaller adjustments since then; including the layoffs of several dozen employees of the global product team in early 2026. Netflix is scheduled to report its third-quarter 2026 earnings on Tuesday, October 20, after the market closes. The company posted financial performance in the second quarter of the year in line with Wall Street forecasts. Its revenue reached 12.6 billion dollars with a growth of 13.4% compared to the same period last year. The operating profit margin was also 33.4%, which showed a decrease compared to 34.1% in the same period of the previous year. However, Netflix's third quarter revenue forecast was lower than analysts' expectations, and this caused the company's stock price to fall. Netflix shares were down 0.3% at $70.26 per share as of 10:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday. This decline occurred as the broader market also faced declines.