Netflix’s latest round of mass layoffs has reached its animation division, with at least two executives working in adult and original animation among approximately 1,000 employees, roughly 6% of the company’s workforce, losing their jobs.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Aaron Davidson, manager of adult animation comedy, and Dan Evans, manager of original animation, were among the employees let go this week. The extent of the cuts to Netflix’s animation operations remains unclear, including whether any production artists or other animation staff have been affected.
The animation departures are part of a company-wide restructuring and mark its largest round of layoffs since 2022. Most of the cuts are concentrated in the streamer’s product, technology, legal, and human resources departments, though Netflix’s TV and film divisions have also been affected.
In a memo to employees, Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters defended the restructuring as a necessary step toward prioritizing the company’s resources.
“Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full-year forecast,” the executives wrote. That’s an interesting claim if Netflix is meeting its financial targets, but about 1,000 of the people who helped get it there are now out of work.
This week’s cuts come despite Netflix’s continued financial success. The company generated $45.2 billion in revenue and $11 billion in net income in 2025, increases of 16% and 26%, respectively. Netflix projects further revenue growth in 2026, though investors have raised concerns about slowing viewer engagement and increasing competition from free platforms such as YouTube.
The company is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings on October 20, likely why this week’s layoffs are timed this way. Nothing excites stock market speculators more than large groups of people losing their livelihoods.
Here’s the full memo sent to employees on Wednesday:
Team — We wanted to share that we are making a number of organizational changes and, as a result, we’ll be letting go of roughly 6% of our colleagues, with the greatest impact to our product, tech, legal, and HR teams.
Decisions like these are never easy, and we don’t take them lightly. Our top priority today is to support those who are leaving Netflix. The process will vary somewhat by country, but leaders will be connecting with impacted employees soon. If you are leaving, please know that we will support you throughout this transition and make sure you have as much clarity and context as possible. We also want to say thank you. What you’ve built, and the care you brought to Netflix, have made a lasting difference and we will always be grateful.
For the rest of the team, we know you have questions, too. Our mission — to entertain the world — is ambitious, and delivering on it requires us to be disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources. Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full year forecast. We’ll continue to invest aggressively in high impact areas to improve our service and further drive growth and innovation. Doing that means making focused choices across the business so we can keep delivering for our members, partners, employees, and investors.
We know changes like this are tough, but let’s stay focused. This is one of the most dynamic times in the history of entertainment — and it’s a moment perfectly suited to a company like ours that’s built at the intersection of technology and entertainment. Now it’s on us to step up and meet the moment, together, like we always do.
Ted and Greg
