Netflix fired 300 people on Thursday, the second month in a row that the streaming giant has cut its staff as it faces declining subscriber growth and falling stock prices.
“Unfortunately today we have laid off about 300 employees,” the company said in a statement. “While we continue to invest significantly in the business, we have made these adjustments so that our costs grow in line with our slower revenue growth.”
Last month, Netflix laid off 150 workers, including staff working at Tudum, which was part of the company’s marketing division.
In April, the company announced it had lost 200,000 subscribers and said it planned to lose two million more in the second quarter of this year. It has about 222 million subscribers in total. The company’s stock price, which has fallen about 70 percent this year, was slightly lower on Thursday.
To deal with the company’s financial struggles, Netflix has said it will introduce a lower price subscription level that includes advertising. The decision is an important strategic pivot for the company, which for years had rejected the adoption of ads. Company executives have said they expect to introduce the advertising model later this year, and Netflix is in talks with several companies that can help grow the business.
While the ad-supported service could increase revenue, some Wall Street analysts have warned that it could also cannibalize Netflix’s existing user base, with current subscribers shrinking by a lower price level.
“Ad-tiering could serve as a way for consumers in all revenue groups to expand their broadcast-to-broadcast budget by going down to subscribe to an additional service, benefiting Netflix’s competitors far more than Netflix itself.” Bank of America analysts wrote in a note. investors Thursday.