Sarandos Defends Netflix Content Purge: 'I Know That We Could Do Better'

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has broken his silence on the company's sweeping content-executive purge, telling Wall Street analysts on the Q3 2026 earnings call: "I know that we could do better, and we want to build on that momentum."

The remark came one week after Netflix laid off 1,000 employees and ousted chief content officer Bela Bajaria. Veteran TV executive Peter Rice replaces her. The company also dismissed head of film Dan Lin, his top lieutenant Doug Belgrad, and director of original series Carolina Garcia.

The overhaul targets viewing engagement at a moment when revenue growth has cooled off. Sarandos, who ran Netflix's content operations for over 20 years before becoming co-CEO, framed the shake-up as an upgrade rather than a reset.

What did Sarandos say about Bela Bajaria?

He opened with praise. Bajaria, he said, had "an incredible decade-long run here. She put a lot of great hits on the board. She led the teams through a lot of expansions of new types of content."

He credited her with building "this incredible international team, who's been making local content around the world, which has become a great competitive differentiator for us over the last decade."

Then came the pivot. "Now we've seen an opportunity to take our slate to the next level, especially in the U.S. where we can have an outsized impact when we create a big buzzy show that members love and talk about all over the world," Sarandos said.

Translation: the local-content machine stays, but the U.S. slate needs bigger swings.

Who is Peter Rice?

Rice is a former Disney and 21st Century Fox television and movie executive. At Disney he served as chairman of Walt Disney Television until former CEO Bob Chapek ousted him in 2022. Sarandos said he has known Rice for about 15 years.

"The outpouring of excitement about him coming to Netflix from across the industry and from the creative community has been nothing short of overwhelming," Sarandos said. "He's one of the really rare people in the industry who's led TV networks, movie studios, streaming services."

Sarandos called Rice "an at-scale quality and volume operator" working across "network [television], prestige cable, streaming, theatrical and TV films, and live sports."

Can Rice fix Netflix's talent problem?

The more pointed part of the endorsement concerned talent. "Peter Rice understands talent relations, and in a competitive market, creative talent have choices of where they want to work, and we want Netflix to always be the place that they love to do the best work of their life," Sarandos said, adding: "Peter is the exact right person to lead those efforts in the U.S. and around the world."

Later in the call, Sarandos repeated the case for his hire in plainer terms: "Peter brings expertise in both art and commerce, television and film. It's kind of that exact balance skill set that will help guide us through our next chapter."

He also gave Rice a short runway. "There's a ton to be excited about in our Q4 slate, and a ton to be excited about in 2027," Sarandos told analysts. "I believe that Peter will actually be able to have an impact on those projects that are in the works, even in the short term."

For an executive hired days into a job, that is a remarkably public clock. The Q4 slate and the 2027 pipeline will now double as Rice's first audit.