The streaming service has more than 221 million paying customers worldwide. The number of subscriptions has recently fallen slightly - for the first time in years. Netflix is responding with job cuts. The times when several households share one account could soon be over.
The US streaming giant Netflix has embarked on an austerity course because of the poor growth prospects. The layoffs of around 150 "great colleagues" were "mainly due to the needs of the company and not individual performance," said a company spokesman. Employees in the USA were particularly affected. Netflix has also reduced its subcontracting work.
Netflix recently announced a loss in subscription numbers for the first time in more than ten years. That was a drop of 200,000 subscribers, less than 0.1 percent of the total subscriber base of 221.6 million. However, this was enough to cause concern among Netflix shareholders. "Slowing the growth of our revenue means we must also slow the growth of our expenses as a company," the spokesman said.
Among other things, Netflix is struggling with growing competition from new streaming services, such as those from Disney and Apple. In addition, the group has also identified the illegal sharing of user accounts as an obstacle to growth. According to company estimates, more than 100 million households use Netflix without paying for it. The group now wants to take stricter action and offer new subscription models that allow sharing for a surcharge. He's also considering an ad-supported model to drive prices down.
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