Netflix is the latest entertainment and media company to announce substantial layoffs, as the industry struggles amid a mass Hollywood exit from California and increasing use of artificial intelligence. Universal Music Group, Skydance and Disney are among others who have announced layoffs in the past month. Here is where the current count stands.
Netflix announced Wednesday the largest round of layoffs in company history, about 1,000 of its global employees, making up about 6% of its workforce, according to a memo sent to employees by co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters and obtained by Deadline.
The memo states the product, technology, legal and human resources departments will be most impacted. However, multiple high-level film and television executives, including Vice President of Film Doug Belgrad, have also been let go, according to Deadline. Netflix has not made a public statement regarding the layoffs.
Also on Wednesday, Universal Music Group initiated another round of layoffs to complete its 2024 restructuring plan, implementing layoffs across its U.S. and U.K. teams, Billboard reported. Multiple top executives from Def Jam Recordings, Interscope Records and UMG U.K. will be leaving, according to Billboard.
These layoffs come on the heels of the completion of the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which took effect on Oct. 6. David Ellison, chairman and CEO, and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz sent a memo to employees at the company, now jointly called Skydance, on Oct. 6 in which they acknowledged that layoffs will be necessary, obtained by Variety. The company has not publicly commented on the layoffs.
These layoffs were expected as Skydance aims to achieve more than $6 billion in cost savings in three years, as stated in its announcement of the merger completion. According to an August report from the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity, 4,500 film and TV jobs could be eliminated as a result of the merger over the next three years in L.A.
To compensate for the expected job loss, Paramount committed to create a $47.5 million workforce fund over five years to provide training and career development for those laid off as a result of the merger, according to a statement from California AG Rob Bonta’s office. The workforce fund was negotiated as part of its settlement with 12 state attorneys general who sued Paramount over concerns that the merger would be anti-competitive.
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