Netflix lays off seasoned journalists after abysmal Q1 results

After posting disastrous results for its March quarter, streaming giant Netflix has reportedly laid off several experienced journalists and writers working for its entertainment site Tudum which it launched only in December last year.

The layoffs come just days after Netflix's earnings report for the first quarter (Q1) where it lost subscribers for the first time in over a decade.

Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann had said that the company would cut some of its spending to get costs under control.

A Netflix spokesperson told Protocol late on Thursday that there were no plans to shut down the site, calling it "an important priority for the company".

Netflix had hired experienced entertainment journalists from publications including Vice, Bustle and others.

According to reports, most of the Tudum culture and trends team was fired.

The staff was reportedly "given no prior warning of the layoffs, and other workers found out their colleagues were laid off via Twitter".

Tudum is part of Netflix's marketing division and includes people working on entertainment, news, lifestyle, and culture content.

The new website shared its name with what the company billed as a "global fan event" that took place in September last year

Netflix saw its stock tumbling by 20 per cent after it reported a loss of 2 lakh paid subscribers in the first quarter of 2022 -- its first subscriber loss in over a decade.

Moreover, Netflix forecasts a global paid subscriber loss of 20 lakh for the second quarter (Q2) of 2022.

The decline has brought Netflix's subscriber base to 221.6 million, down from 221.8 million in the previous quarter.

--IANS

na/ksk/