Netflix has cut a further 300 in a second round of layoffs, as the firm’s financial struggles continue.
First reported by Variety, the streaming giant’s latest redundancies affect several different departments, including some international workers but mostly those based in the US.
Netflix spokesperson Bao Nguyen told The Verge: “Today we sadly let go of around 300 employees.
“While we continue to invest significantly in the business, we made these adjustments so that our costs are growing in line with our slower revenue growth.”
Netflix would not confirm whether there were plans for more layoffs in the near future.
This latest cull of workers comes after Netflix got rid of 290 employees in May, citing “a slow down in revenue and decline in subscribers”.
However, some at the time highlighted many of the outgoing staff were from minority groups, while others suggested the company was conducting a cull of ‘woke’ staff who are the most politically active on social media.
The layoffs comprised 150 recruitment workers, 70 animators and 70 contractors working on promotional material for the company, including for projects focusing on ethnic minorities and the LGBT+ community.
US journalist Bari Weiss recently commented: “The company framed the firings as “layoffs”—but 150 people doesn’t really make a dent for a company of 11,000 people. Those 150 happen to include, just by chance, some of the most Twitter-active social justice workers in the place.”
Many expressed their suspicions about the lay-offs on social media.
Filmmaker Carly Usdin tweeted: “Uhhh is Netflix only laying off the teams associated with making and promoting content for marginalized viewers?? That's what it seems like.”
Karla Monterroso, a leadership coach for Black and Latinx communities, said: “Netflix hired a powerhouse team of creators from a variety of marginalized communities and they were performing exceptionally well. Had us all invested in their work. They were then the first people they showed the door at the first financial difficulty.”
Following the redundancies, the firm also launched a crackdown on employees voicing concerns about some of the content on its platform.
In an internal memo, bosses told staff: “As employees we support the principle that Netflix offers a diversity of stories, even if we find some titles counter to our own personal values. Depending on your role, you may need to work on titles you perceive to be harmful.
“If you'd find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you.”
When the memo went public, Tesla boss and impending Twitter owner Elon Musk praised Netflix for combatting what he deemed a “woke mind virus” which was “making Netflix unwatchable”.
Examples of dissent within the Netflix ranks include uproar over executives’ refusal to take down a special from comedian Dave Chappelle, in which he claimed ‘gender is a fact’, prompting outcry from the LGBT+ community and their allies. It led to several employees gatecrashing an executive meeting in protest, and later staging a walk-out in October 2021.