Netflix was liberal in its layoffs on Tuesday (March 17), cutting 150 positions out of its 11,000-strong workforce due to slower revenue growth, Deadline reported.
The lost positions are mostly from the U.S. and a lot of them were from both film and TV creative teams, unnamed sources said. Several of them were also reportedly executive ranks, including in original content.
“As we explained on earnings, our slowing revenue growth means we are also having to slow our cost growth as a company. So sadly, we are letting around 150 employees go today, mostly US-based,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline. “These changes are primarily driven by business needs rather than individual performance, which makes them especially tough as none of us want to say goodbye to such great colleagues. We’re working hard to support them through this very difficult transition.”
This all follows other layoffs from Tudum, the Netflix fan-site that was supposed to be about behind-the-scenes news related to content on the streaming site.
There have been expectations that this would happen — stocks for the company have fallen significantly since last month, when Netflix announced its worldwide subscriber base was down by 200,000 in the first quarter. That was the first drop in over a decade.
In its quarterly letter to shareholders, the company said revenue had “slowed considerably,” and that competition had helped to create the adversity.
Netflix has been making additional changes to its structure. For instance, the streaming giant is reportedly preparing to debut a new ad-supported, cheaper streaming plan much earlier than intended.
Read more: Netflix Pushes Up Debut of Ad-Supported Tier to Year’s End
PYMNTS wrote that this would be done in the final three months of the year, a much quicker turn-around than originally thought. The company said its intent is to cut down on password sharing.
The change will come with a lower-price subscription which will have ads in it, despite the company’s past statements that ads would never be included.