After dominating the streaming service wars for years, Netflix reported their first decline in subscribers during the first quarter of 2022 in over a decade, causing their stock to drop more than 60% in the past year.
On Tuesday, Netflix announced that it was cutting 150 jobs, mostly in the United States.
The streaming giant has about 11,300 employees, so the layoffs are just 1.3% of the company, according to The Guardian. Netflix released a statement explaining the cuts, citing slower revenue growth as the main reason.
"As we explained on earnings, our slowing revenue growth means we are also having to slow our cost growth as a company," a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement, per the Los Angeles Times.
"So sadly, we are letting around 150 employees go today, mostly U.S.-based. 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."
Netflix has an estimated 222 million subscribers worldwide, and after dropping 200,000 subscribers early on in 2022, they project to lose another 2 million subscribers during the second quarter.
Netflix's stock is currently at $180.89 as of May 18, as it has come crashing down since reaching an all-time high of $690.31 on Oct. 29, 2021. The company's stock dropped 35.1% to $226.19 on April 20, following the release of their earnings report. It marked the biggest drop in a single day since 2004, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The current stock price is the lowest it's been since Sept. 1, 2017, when it was at $174.74.
Netflix has been working to crackdown on password sharing among users, estimating that more than 30 million U.S. and Canadian households are sharing an account password, and there are an additional 100 million households sharing them around the world, according to CNBC.
The company announced back in January that it was increasing their monthly subscription prices, going to $9.99 for the basic plan, $15.49 for the standard plan (a $1.50 increase), and a $2 jump for the premium plan to $19.99.
Netflix will continue to battle it out with other streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Paramount+, and many more. The company plans to keep expanding their programing options by spending $18 billion on content this year.
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