Netflix Cuts 1,000 Jobs and Two Top Executives — and the Next Head on the Block May Be Sarandos' Own

By Grace Kim

Netflix fired roughly 1,000 staffers in the past week and pushed out its two most senior content executives — chief content officer Bela Bajaria and film chief Dan Lin. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos now has almost no one left between himself and the blame, and earnings land Tuesday, October 20.

The stock tells the story plainly. Netflix shares sat above $120 a year ago; they now trade below $70. Engagement numbers are struggling, growth is short of where Sarandos wants it, and the executive bench above the creative side has been cleared.

What does the shake-up actually change?

Bajaria's job goes to Peter Rice, a well-liked former Disney and Fox executive. Lin's film team will be reshaped, and rumors are circling about who fills his seat. What it doesn't change is the accountability math: with his two top creative lieutenants gone, every future miss lands closer to Sarandos himself.

Sarandos has a stated philosophy that now reads as foreshadowing. In a January CNBC interview he described a culture with "no sacred cows here," and added: "I think Netflix was built on challenging conventional wisdom on almost everything."

That instinct isn't new. It was Sarandos and co-founder Reed Hastings who pushed Netflix away from its DVD-by-mail cash cow and toward streaming in the first place — the move that disrupted Hollywood. He also reversed course on ads, sports, live events and, lately, theatrical releases.

Has Sarandos been in this spot before?

Twice, and both times Netflix survived.

• Qwikster, 2011. Netflix tried to split its streaming and DVD businesses into two companies. The backlash was so fierce that then-CEO Hastings reversed the plan within a month, and the stock recovered. DVDs survived until April 2023.
• The "Netflix Correction," April 2022. Netflix reported its first-ever quarterly subscriber loss — roughly 200,000 — and lost nearly another 1 million a quarter later. Sarandos responded with a password-sharing crackdown and a cheaper ad-supported tier. Netflix grew past 300 million subscribers and eventually stopped reporting quarterly adds altogether.

The current predicament has its own trigger. Wall Street disliked Netflix's bid for Warner Bros. Discovery's film business, and the stock didn't rebound when Paramount won it — even with a multibillion-dollar kill fee flowing into Netflix's coffers.

How is Netflix spending its way out?

On content, aggressively and in unexpected directions:

• Podcast deals with Spotify, Barstool Sports, iHeartMedia and Jay Shetty's "On Purpose," all signed within the last 12 months, aimed at pulling viewers from YouTube.
• Another NFL package, international World Cup streaming rights, and marquee MLB games — funded partly by the Paramount kill fee.
• A 30-minute gameplay trailer for "Grand Theft Auto VI," the kind of content that usually lives on X and Twitch.
• A retooled Kids and Family slate: "Sesame Street" and "Ms. Rachel" in, "CoComelon" out, plus a planned "Sesame Street" film.
• A new bet on theatrical marketing spend for select films, betting it boosts streaming performance later.

Analysts see the fix arriving through a different door. Wedbush wrote in a report late last week that the engagement changes will take time — longer still given the staff upheaval — but that ad revenue is "on track to double to roughly $3 billion in 2026." The firm set a 12-month price target of $90.

What about the Oscar?

Netflix is still chasing a Best Picture win, and "La Bola Negra" may be its strongest shot yet. A victory would be symbolic for Sarandos: evidence that Hollywood's Old Guard has softened on Netflix, that its adult dramas (not just "KPop Demon Hunters") can capture the zeitgeist, and that Sarandos still has levers to pull. If it happens, the departed Lin would deserve some of the credit — but Sarandos would take the victory lap all the same.

The October 20 earnings report is the near-term verdict. If the stock keeps sliding and engagement doesn't turn, the question stops being who Sarandos fires next — and becomes whether Netflix's board starts asking it about him.