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Netflix lays off about 150 employees
- gigatexal 4y agoKara Swisher and Scott Galloway on The Pivot Podcast actually called this. Fascinating.
- glouwbug 4y agoI mean, it wasn't tough to see coming
- redisman 4y agoWith the stock being down 72% over 6 months. What a call. And this is a tiny layoff
- dominotw 4y agolol I call sun is going to rise tomorrow. genius.
- johndfsgdgdfg 4y ago
- mbesto 4y agoKara personally wrote those? Isn't she responsible for Recode which got acquired by Vox for it's tech specific content?
- subsubzero 4y agoVox was just pushing out what the CDC and mainstream media was saying during that time. I don't think its a great news publication but alot of those images were taken before anyone really knew about how the coronavirus spread or behaved.
- johndfsgdgdfg 4y ago
- mike00632 4y ago1. She didn't write these or even have a hand in writing these. 2. These are all from before the pandemic when people knew next to nothing about the coming virus. That is completely different from the hot takes of today that go completely against what is commonly understood, i.e. it's not "disinformation".
- johndfsgdgdfg 4y ago> people knew next to nothing about the coming virus. Exactly. That's the point. They DIDN'T know. Yet these articles not only have been written with utter certainty, there was also a strong thought-policing tone. Don't you dare think COVID will become pandemic, you'll be tagged as racist and white supremacist. These tweets and news articles have caused great damage. Just because Vox is on the "right" political team, doesn't make it okay to spread disinformation. These tweets are not only politically motivated, there was also financial motivation behind them. Like Hollywood many people have made billions of dollars doing business deals with China. They want to appease China and keep making more billions. These people need to be called out.
- aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago>These are all from before the pandemic when people knew next to nothing about the coming virus. And yet their tone was so brazenly confident.
- elEpHantiaSis 4y ago
- johndfsgdgdfg 4y ago[flagged]
- elEpHantiaSis 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- VectorLock 4y agoOne might say Brendan Gregg saw this coming as well. https://www.brendangregg.com/blog/2022-04-15/netflix-farewell-1.html https://www.brendangregg.com/blog/2022-04-15/netflix-farewel...
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bin_bash 4y agoIf I had a podcast making 2 or 3 predictions twice a week I'd probably call a few things too.
- gigatexal 4y agolol there’s no love for them on HN. That’s funny.
- astrange 4y agoIsn’t Scott Galloway the guy who’s famous for all his predictions being wrong? https://galloway-index.webflow.io/ https://galloway-index.webflow.io/
- gigatexal 4y agoTaking a stand on things often leaves you on the wrong side of things. The reasoning behind the choice is often most interesting.
- anyfoo 4y agoI did not see any details here on what part of the organization the laid off employees were working in. Netflix has over 10000 employees, so these roughly 1.5% feel pretty specific to me, and I'm curious where exactly Netflix has decided to make these cuts. Does anyone know?
- kbelder 4y ago"Dozens from it's Tudum fansite", which I have never heard of. https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/17/23103131/netflix-layoffs-tudum-streaming-subscriber-loss-email https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/17/23103131/netflix-layoffs-...
- guerrilla 4y agoThat's because you don't speak Portuguese or live in Brazil :)
- arroz 4y agoQ q tem a ver?
- filmgirlcw 4y agoIt should also be noted that the CMO who originally greenlit this "publication" (that no one else in the company really understood or seemed aware of) left the company in March. So I look at this sort of layoff as not strictly indicative of the broader Netflix concerns (which are real and valid), but just as much about the executive sponsor of a project going away, and thus the project being dropped. Unfortunately, I think we will see actual Netflix layoffs in the future, especially as they have to to deal with loss of subscribers, lower investor confidence, and the fact that Wall Street is finally making them answer for those bloated content budgets, but I don't look at this very small, and seemingly largely focused group of layoffs as a canary in the coal mine as much as some of the trade publications (that frankly, should know better), are trying to frame this.
- mikkergp 4y ago
- moneywoes 4y agoI guess it’s starting. What is a safe company during these times?
- EwanToo 4y agoDefense & energy (oil)
- asdfman123 4y agoAs someone who used to work in oil: oil (or any commodities) is an industry you go into if you don't mind a major wipeout every few years. Layoffs there are cyclical and far reaching. I'm sure it's fine for now, though.
- mr90210 4y agoNo one is safe, and no company is safe these days.
- deputymartin 4y agoAn economist I was listening to recently recommended assessing your employer's debt to equity ratio to determine its resiliency in a recession.
- onlyrealcuzzo 4y agoSo Apple, Google, MSFT, and AMZN?
- asdfman123 4y agoDoes that count for tech? I just looked at tech's and it's all between like 0.25 - 0.6 for the few samples I looked at. Netflix is 0.8 but still I think is low for most companies? If you Google "good debt to equity ratio" one site says 2.0 - 2.5. I'm not sure if this applies here.
- nowherebeen 4y agoThere are other things to look at such as how resilient their business model is, their price/ earning ratio, etc. But in general, I would say those tech companies that have huge price swings during the pandemic are most likely to going have some sort of layoff. They are the ones that most likely over-hired.
- asdfman123 4y agoI feel like fancy metrics drive the conversation but sometimes it might be more instructive to do a totally subjective user-based sanity check (e.g. how much do I personally enjoy it?). Netflix is supposedly growing massively but... is there anything good on it? So much of the content seems completely forgettable. Furthermore, in the midst of a bad economy I'd imagine streaming services could be cut from the budget first.
- siproprio 4y agoYep, most Netflix shows are pretty bad, the movies even worse, and the catalog outside the US is 10x smaller. Absolutely not worth paying for it unless sharing with a couple of friends IMHO.
- ProAm 4y agoSomeone on reddit said 'Netflix is like browsing the $2 DVD bin at Walmart except your pay them $15 a month for it' and I felt it was very apt.
- comprev 4y agoNetflix has _always_ been the $2 DVD bin
- nathancahill 4y agoBack in the mail subscription day at least they had the $2 obscure DVD that you couldn't find anywhere else. Now it's just the same show with different casts in different settings.
- ulisesrmzroche 4y agoI don't know why you're getting downvoted. They used to mail me the criterion collection when I was in high school. Obviously it's not that now.
- dgellow 4y ago
- jonas21 4y agoAren't layoffs one of the hallmarks of Netflix's culture [1], made famous by Reid Hastings' slide deck [2]? > We model ourselves on being a professional sports team, not a family. A family is about unconditional love. A dream team is about pushing yourself to be the best possible teammate, caring intensely about your team, and knowing that you may not be on the team forever. ... > To strengthen our dream team, our managers use a “keeper test” for each of their people: if a team member was leaving for a similar role at another company, would the manager try to keep them? Those who do not pass the keeper test (i.e. their manager would not fight to keep them) are given a generous severance package so we can find someone even better for that position—making an even better dream team. [1] https://jobs.netflix.com/culture https://jobs.netflix.com/culture [2] https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-2009 https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-2009
- drieddust 4y agoProfessional players gets paid millions for a few years and then ends up into retirement. For analogy to work Netfix should pay that well. Seems they were bonkers from the start. Why they thought competition will not catch up with them? What is their business moat?
- ericd 4y agoDoesn't Netflix pay very well relative to the field?
- pc86 4y agoYes, they pay top 1% and (according to them, but not disputed by anyone who actually works there that I've seen) they reassess every year and adjust according, to stay in the top 1%. Furthermore it's almost all cash, very minimal stock, so no huge unintentional pay cuts like basically every other large tech company that can only pay the way they do by giving out generous stock grants.
- ericd 4y ago
- FpUser 4y ago>"We model ourselves on being a professional sports team, not a family. A family is about unconditional love. A dream team is about pushing yourself to be the best possible teammate, caring intensely about your team, and knowing that you may not be on the team forever" Why would I care about being "best possible teammate" which basically translates to sacrifice your own financial interests to feed the owners and be laid off at first opportunity. Fuck that. Well unless of course they pay a ton and guarantee X amount of months/years.
- jedberg 4y ago> Well unless of course they pay a ton and guarantee X amount of months/years. As it turns out, they do both. They pay a ton and give you a large severance if they let you go.
- FpUser 4y agoThen it is all nice and fair. I knew the other company where the bosses were singing about "being a player" but they would screw a "team player" over as soon as it would save them another buck.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- paulcole 4y ago> Why would I care about being "best possible teammate" You absolutely shouldn’t care about it! And if you don’t care about it, Netflix doesn’t want you to work there. It’s a win win.
- FpUser 4y agoFair. But as the previous replay says that Netflix actually compensates very well my argument is then mute.
- paulpauper 4y agoyup..first the stock crash, then layoffs
- aheze 4y ago
- dankwizard 4y agoWhen they asked employees to leave, it was a no brainer layoffs were coming
- jzer0cool 4y agoWere the layoffs from technology focused roles?
- deeptote 4y agoEvery single one of these recent layoffs, I haven't seen a single engineer. It's all seemed to be recruiters or "talent managers".
- wly_cdgr 4y agoThis looks like one of those "bad quarterly results give us cover to get rid of some rabble rousers we don't like" layoff rounds
- rnd0 4y agoI'd love to know how many of the people complaining about Chapelle survived this round of layoffs.
- scollet 4y agoAre the other streaming services going to swoop in like vultures?
- scarface74 4y agoFor what reason? Their original content is worse than all of their competitors.
- redisman 4y agoThey have a few modern evergreen licenses like the great British baking show. Apart from those few the portfolio feels very metrics-driven/soulless
- baby 4y agoThat feels very subjective. IMO Netflix produces more, so they produce more bad content, but they also produce more good content.
- scarface74 4y agoAs far as content people care about. Disney has Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and cartoons that kids have been watching for decades.
- baby 4y agoSure but that’s it. Disney really doesn’t have anything in terms of content, more in terms of IP
- scarface74 4y agoThe average consumer cares a lot more about Disney content based on their IP than Netflix’s. Could Netflix release any of its originals in theaters and gross over a billion? There is much more excitement about Disney series based on their IP than Netflix’s Not to mention that parents will get Disney just for their kids to have access to the Disney library.
- pipeline_peak 4y agoThey need to focus on original content more than anything. That's likely what contributed to the price war they've been caught up in with all the others. When they had House of Cards, The Office, Black Mirror, a pretty solid in house studio, they weren't playing tag with Hulu. If you have a consistent quality backlog, people stay, worked for Viacom, worked for Nintendo regardless of their underperforming hardware. Of course Paramount and Disney had little to no engagement in streaming back then, so I can't imagine Netflix recovering to 2014 dominance as realistic. But they can survive like HBO Go, crank out a few solid Soprano grade series and serve as an outlet for independent publishers that Viacom and Disney have noooo interest in.
- mjamil 4y agoMy 11-year-old just claimed that "The Wings of Fire" animated TV show - Ava DuVernay's adaptation that was in production at Netflix - has been canceled. Googling confirmed the news, and immediately thereafter led to news about the layoff. My daughter's reaction was mild outrage; she's a huge fan of the book series, and of dragons in general. Mine was laughter (and a little sadness); this was the first time I'd learned major news about a tech company through something one of my kids told me, and it certainly won't be the last.
- davidkassa 4y agoSeeing this makes me sad. My 11-year-old was equally excited.
- frays 4y agoThat's a fantastic story, thanks for sharing! As a parent of two toddlers, I can't wait to see what they'll be teaching me once they're older.
- rodgerd 4y agoThey've essentially shitcanned their entire animation division. Given that it's an area where they've gotten a lot of praise and attention, and is a point of difference, it seems like an odd choice.
- d3nj4l 4y agoMy guess is that they're going to narrow their focus onto fewer, but more "profitable" (according to their data) demographics, and animation wasn't paying for itself there.
- astrange 4y agoIt’s extremely profitable right now, but Netflix was trying to make fake anime instead of getting more real anime, and maybe that didn’t work. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/cannes-japanese-anime-worlds-most-bankable-genre-1235146810/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/can...
- marsven_422 4y ago
- nsonha 4y agoCome back when it's 150k, this is not even a layoff at Netflix's scale
- mugivarra69 4y agoashura will come for thee
- jjmorrison 4y agoHmmm a 2% layoff? Yeah, they just wanted fired a bunch of low performers and disgruntled employees. Much easier in a layoff so no one can sue.
- baby 4y agoIt is really sad that the new era is about many streaming services instead of a single one. Netflix was a godsend and an amazing service (still is btw), but now my shows are split between so many streaming services that I’ve started pirating movies again. The only service I’m paying for is youtube because these ads are annoying af otherwise. Imagine a single service where you can watch all movies. A bit like Apple music I guess (although they still lack a lot of foreign songs). Why can’t we do the same for movies? I predict that as internet speeds increase we will see pirating movies make a come back.
- heurisko 4y agoThe situation now resembles the vertically integrated film and distribution companies that had to be broken up in the 20th century. https://nofilmschool.com/vertical-integration-legal https://nofilmschool.com/vertical-integration-legal
- skywal_l 4y agoI've been wondering this for a while. How come there is no action being taken even though the supreme court already ruled on that matter more than 60 years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Paramount_Pictures,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Paramount_Pic....
- IshKebab 4y agoI presume it's partly because TV and film are much much more expensive to produce than music, and partly music is much more fungible than TV or film - there's way more of it and people are much happier to listen to random music than watch random films. I mean if you've heard about Severance and want to watch it it's much more annoying that it's only on Apple TV than if one specific band isn't on Spotify. It's more noticeable and annoying. I just pay for Prime and Netflix and pirate the rest.
- baby 4y agoThat’s what I do as well.
- samrocksc 4y agoHuh, they could have just passed on making/scratching another shitty sitcom and kept all 150 employees.
- 5350-uiop-1130 4y agothey should make a documentary about it, and stretch out 60 minutes of content into 10 episodes.
- sylware 4y agoI don't know why I think those people are actually lucky.
- matthewfelgate 4y agoIsn't 150 like a tiny amount?