Netflix Cuts 1,000 Jobs as Tech Layoffs Hit HubSpot, Amazon

By Grace Kim

Netflix is cutting roughly 1,000 employees — 6% of its global workforce — in its largest round of job cuts since 2022. The streaming giant announced the layoffs on Wednesday, and the news landed days before its third-quarter financial results, due October 20.

Netflix isn't alone. October has brought a new wave of tech layoffs across HubSpot, Flock Safety, Airtable, and Amazon, affecting thousands of employees. The reasons vary — AI-focused restructuring, post-acquisition overhauls, public backlash, pandemic-era overhiring — but the pattern holds: tech companies keep trimming headcount.

What's driving the Netflix cuts?

Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters wrote in an email to employees that most of the layoffs will hit the company's product, technology, legal, and HR teams. It's not clear how many U.S.-based positions will be affected.

The move is Netflix's biggest cut since 2022, when it shed 450 staffers after losing 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of that year.

The restructuring reaches the top. Bela Bajaria, Netflix's chief content officer, is leaving after 10 years at the company, Puck reported on Thursday. Former Disney and Fox executive Peter Rice will replace her.

How deep are the HubSpot cuts?

HubSpot announced on October 6 that it would cut 7% of its workforce — roughly 660 employees — as it reorganizes around what it calls AI-driven customer outcomes.

CEO Yamini Rangan told employees in a memo that the layoffs were "not driven by AI-related efficiencies," but the aim was to focus on "aligning our organization with our strategy and how we need to operate going forward."

AI has weighed on the company before. In August, Rangan blamed AI for HubSpot's need to adjust product and pricing after the company "got off to a slow start" in April.

Why is Flock Safety shedding 18% of staff?

Flock Safety, the Atlanta-based surveillance camera maker, announced on October 9 that it will cut 18% of its workforce — around 270 employees — across the board. Employees will leave by the end of October following a voluntary buyout program, Reuters reported.

Wired reported in September that Flock had already been asking some employees to leave voluntarily to avoid mandatory layoffs.

The company faces growing pressure over its license plate-reading camera network, which lets police and federal agents track vehicles. Legal actions include a class action lawsuit in California and two federal class-action lawsuits in Georgia. Flock did not respond to Fast Company's request for comment.

What happened at Airtable after the $1.3 billion deal?

Airtable, the San Francisco software company, is laying off a "large portion" of its pre-acquisition workforce weeks after Bending Spoons completed its $1.3 billion purchase of the platform.

Alessandra Savarese, who joined Airtable to lead product development after the acquisition, announced on Monday that affected employees will leave by the end of this week.

"At Bending Spoons, we've seen firsthand how smaller, faster-moving teams with streamlined responsibilities can have an outsized impact, and we have the same ambitions at Airtable," Savarese wrote.

Bending Spoons, which completed its IPO in July, is known for buying established software companies — Vimeo and AOL among them — and instituting organizational changes. A representative declined to comment to Fast Company but said: "The decision to part ways with members of Airtable's pre-acquisition team wasn't taken lightly and doesn't reflect on the team's excellent work."

What did Amazon do during Prime Big Deal Days?

Amazon notified employees of a new round of layoffs on October 7 — during Prime Big Deal Days, one of its biggest shopping events of the year.

The cuts primarily affect the Stores division, which runs Amazon's main e-commerce business. The company cut fewer than 1,000 jobs across the U.S., India, and the United Kingdom, Reuters reported.

Founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos told Fox News that the layoffs stem from pandemic-era overhiring.

"People were staying home and they were ordering, and it was an incredible, stressful period for us," Bezos said. "The whole team worked extremely hard and did so much, but we really grew our headcount."

With Netflix's earnings due October 20 and more restructuring signals coming from AI-focused CEOs, October's cuts suggest the headcount trim in tech is accelerating, not easing.