Earthquake in Netflix after firing 1000 employees; The chief content manager was fired

Bela Bajaria, Netflix's chief content officer who has been one of the entertainment giant's top executives for the past decade, is leaving the global streaming service. The new development comes after Netflix laid off about 1,000 employees, or 6 percent of its workforce, in its biggest wave of layoffs. Post earthquake in Netflix after firing 1000 employees; Chief Content Officer Fired appeared first on Safir Arjan.

According to Ambassador Arjan, the company announced that Peter Rice, the former executive director of Fox and Disney, will take over the position of chief content officer from next week.

Netflix has implemented this sudden and important management change in a situation where it is facing a stagnation in the indicators of audience engagement and a decrease in its growth rate. A day before, Netflix fired about a thousand of its employees; This action is considered the biggest round of personnel adjustment of this company since 2022.

Late last year, Netflix launched an all-out bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and online streaming business, but lost out to Paramount Skydance. (Skydance, the company run by David Ellison, acquired all of Warner Bros. Discovery last week for $111 billion.)

Over the past 12 months, Netflix's stock price has fallen nearly 40%.

Ted Sarandos, one of Netflix's co-CEOs, said at a Bloomberg-hosted conference a few weeks ago: "Overall, we're not growing as fast as I would like, and we're trying to accelerate that process."

In a memo to Netflix employees on Thursday, he wrote: "It's been an eventful few days, and I know we've asked you to digest a lot of news and information in a short amount of time." But we all know that change is part of what we do at Netflix.

In this note, he praised Bajaria's time in this company, but at the same time said that he sees "an opportunity to raise the level of his productions and programs to a higher level"; Especially in the United States.

Ever since Stranger Things ended its run last year, Netflix has struggled to find another blockbuster with a global audience to replace it.

According to data from Nielsen, Netflix's share of TV viewing time in the United States has declined since last year; While one of its competitors, YouTube, has seen its share increase.

Bajaria joined Netflix in 2016, after working for a while at NBCUniversal, and quickly climbed the company's management ladder. He was initially responsible for Netflix's fledgling unscripted series, and shows such as Queer Eye and Nailed It! produced and supplied With these programs, he showed that this online broadcasting company, just as it is capable of producing fictional works such as "Khane Pushali", can also perform successfully in the field of reality shows.

In 2019, he assumed responsibility for Netflix's international series, and then in 2020, when Sarandos fired Cindy Holland, one of the main architects of Netflix's original programming strategy, he was given responsibility for all of the company's television operations.

Bajaria was named chief content officer in 2023, overseeing all Netflix series and movies, as well as the company's new ventures into live events, sports and video podcasts.

Sarandos informed Bajaria earlier this week that he had to leave the company, according to two people familiar with the matter. Netflix had planned to announce his departure next week, but Puck, a newsletter that covers Hollywood news, broke the news Thursday afternoon. Shortly thereafter, Sarandos' memo was sent to staff.

Rice worked at Fox for nearly three decades, holding senior executive positions in the television and film divisions.

He joined Disney after Disney acquired most of Fox's entertainment assets in 2019, overseeing the company's extensive portfolio of television productions. He left the company in 2022, after then-CEO Bob Chapek removed him from Disney.

Since then, Rice has been involved in film and television production. In his most recent activity, he supervised the production of the movie "The Social Reckoning"; The film that Sony Pictures released last week, but its box office sales were lower than expected. He also supervises the production of the movie "Misty Green" by E24.

Rice is also responsible for overseeing the opening ceremonies for the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles.

Entertainment insiders have often described him as "well-mannered" and "well-mannered" — he grew up in south London — though others consider him "mysterious and inscrutable." He is known for using the Socratic method in business meetings; A method based on questioning and making people think through targeted questions. He is also not afraid of long and sometimes awkward pauses in conversations.

"Peter is one of the most effective large-scale executives in the entertainment industry," Sarandos wrote in his memo about Rice. His business acumen is strong, his relationships with top industry talent are incredibly strong, and his experience in both television and film is deep and broad.