Netflix announced on Tuesday that it has fired off around 2% of its workforce in a cost-cutting measure after the once-booming streaming video service's growth halted.
"These changes are generally motivated by business considerations rather than individual performance, which makes them more difficult because none of us want to say goodbye to such wonderful colleagues," an AFP spokeswoman said.
According to the spokesman, some 150 employees have been laid off, most of whom are in the United States, and Netflix has also reduced expenditure on contractors.
The adjustments come only weeks after Netflix reported losing customers for the first time in over a decade.
"With our revenue growth slowing, we're also needing to restrict our expense growth as a firm," the representative explained.
Netflix has 221.6 million customers after the first quarter of this year, a modest decrease from the previous quarter.
The firm attributed the quarter-over-quarter decline to the suspension of its service in Russia as a result of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
When Netflix published quarterly earnings in April, a reduction of just 200,000 members less than 0.1 percent of its overall client base sent Wall Street into a frenzy.
On an earnings call, Netflix Chief Financial Officer Spence Neumann stated that the company will "hold back" on spending for the next two years while continuing to invest billions of dollars on the platform.
In the most recent quarter, the Silicon Valley tech giant posted a net income of $1.6 billion (approximately Rs. 12,409 crores), compared to $1.7 billion (about Rs. 13,184 crores) in the same time last year.
Netflix believes that one of the reasons impeding its development is members sharing accounts with people who do not live in their houses.
According to the streaming behemoth, while over 222 million homes pay for its service, accounts are shared with more than 100 million other families who do not pay membership costs.
Netflix is experimenting with new methods to monetize account sharing, such as adding a tool that allows customers to pay a small fee to join more homes.
"When we were growing quickly, it wasn't a top priority, and now we're working hard on it," said CEO Reed Hastings on an earnings call.
"There are currently over a hundred million homes who choose to watch Netflix; they appreciate the service; we simply have to get paid in some way for them."
Another issue impeding Netflix's development is fierce rivalry from industry heavyweights like Apple and Disney.
Netflix is considering establishing a lower-cost membership tier supported by advertising, a practice that Hastings has long opposed.
