Netflix added 7.66 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2022.
American video streaming platform Netflix is reportedly restructuring its film group to make fewer movies every year and as it centralizes decision-making. According to a report by Bloomberg, the move would result in layoffs and the exit of two most experienced executives at the company.
Vowing to make fewer but better quality movies, the company will combine small and midsize production units as a part of its restructuring. This will result in a small number of layoffs along with the exit of Lisa Nishimura and Ian Bricke, two experienced executives at Netflix.
Nishimura led the company into standup comedy and original documentaries and will depart from Netflix after a 15-year stint. Bricke, on the other hand, is a vice president of the film group and is leaving the company after over a decade.
The move reportedly comes as the company’s chief Scott Stuber attempts to scale back output so that high-quality titles are made. Official confirmation from Netflix is still awaited.
In January, Netflix founder and co-chief executive officer Reed Hastings announced to step down from the post. The streaming platform’s Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters was appointed as co-CEO.
Meanwhile, the OTT platform reported a fall in customer base in the first half of 2022 for the first time. However, according to a Reuters report, Netflix added 7.66 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2022, beating Wall Street forecasts of 4.57 million.
The success of “Harry & Meghan” and “Wednesday” were key shows that attracted viewers to the OTT platform. Even though the company returned to growth in the second half, the pace of customer addition stayed low.
Additionally, although the number of layoffs at the company is expected to be little, with the move Netflix would join companies like Walt Disney which commenced its first round of job cuts on Monday. Disney previously announced laying off 7,000 employees in order to streamline its business.
Several companies including Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta, Sundar Pichai-led Alphabet, Elon Musk-led Twitter, and Satya Nadella-led Microsoft, among others, are laying off thousands of employees in an attempt to gear up for a global economic slowdown.
