Netflix said it laid off about 2 per cent of its staff in a belt-tightening move after growth slowed at the once-booming television streaming service.
"These changes are primarily driven by business needs rather than individual performance, which makes them especially tough, as none of us want to say goodbye to such great colleagues," a Netflix representative told AFP.
About 150 employees have been laid off, most of them in the United States, the representative said. They said Netflix also cut spending on contractors.
The moves came just weeks after Netflix reported that it lost subscribers for the first time in more than a decade.
"Our slowing revenue growth means we are also having to slow our cost growth as a company," the representative said.
Netflix ended the first quarter of this year with 221.6 million subscribers, slightly fewer than the final quarter of last year.
The company blamed the quarter-over-quarter erosion to suspension of its service in Russia following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
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Netflix announces new titles for May
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A drop of 200,000 users — less than 0.1 per cent of its total customer base — was enough to send Wall Street panicking when Netflix reported quarterly earnings in April.
Chief financial officer Spence Neumann said on an earnings call that Netflix would be "pulling back" on spending for the next two years, while continuing to invest billions of dollars in the platform.
The Silicon Valley tech firm reported a net income of $1.6 billion in the recently ended quarter, compared to $1.7bn in the same period a year earlier.
Netflix believes that factors impeding its growth include subscribers sharing accounts with people not living in their homes.
The company estimated that while it has nearly 222 million households paying for its service, accounts are shared with more than 100 million other households not paying subscription fees.
Netflix is testing ways to make money from people sharing accounts, such as by introducing a feature that lets subscribers pay slightly more to add other households.
"When we were growing fast, it wasn't a high priority and now we're working super hard on it," chief executive Reed Hastings said of account-sharing during an earnings call.
"These are over a hundred million households that already are choosing to view Netflix; they love the service, we've just got to get paid in some degree for them."
Another factor stifling Netflix growth is intense competition from rivals such as Apple and Disney.
Netflix is looking at adding a lower-priced subscription tier subsidised by advertising, a model that Mr Hastings had long snubbed.
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Student Of The Year 2
Director: Punit Malhotra
Stars: Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria, Ananya Pandey, Aditya Seal
1.5 stars
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 640hp
Torque: 760nm
On sale: 2026
Price: Not announced yet
Bob%20Marley%3A%20One%20Love
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Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Apple%20Mac%20through%20the%20years
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Sam Smith
Where: du Arena, Abu Dhabi
When: Saturday November 24
Rating: 4/5
Global institutions: BlackRock and KKR
US-based BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with $5.98 trillion of assets under management as of the end of last year. The New York firm run by Larry Fink provides investment management services to institutional clients and retail investors including governments, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, banks and charitable foundations around the world, through a variety of investment vehicles.
KKR & Co, or Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, is a global private equity and investment firm with around $195 billion of assets as of the end of last year. The New York-based firm, founded by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, invests in multiple alternative asset classes through direct or fund-to-fund investments with a particular focus on infrastructure, technology, healthcare, real estate and energy.
Bio
Born in Dibba, Sharjah in 1972.
He is the eldest among 11 brothers and sisters.
He was educated in Sharjah schools and is a graduate of UAE University in Al Ain.
He has written poetry for 30 years and has had work published in local newspapers.
He likes all kinds of adventure movies that relate to his work.
His dream is a safe and preserved environment for all humankind.
His favourite book is The Quran, and 'Maze of Innovation and Creativity', written by his brother.
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index in full
1 Jeff Bezos $140 billion
2 Bill Gates $98.3 billion
3 Bernard Arnault $83.1 billion
4 Warren Buffett $83 billion
5 Amancio Ortega $67.9 billion
6 Mark Zuckerberg $67.3 billion
7 Larry Page $56.8 billion
8 Larry Ellison $56.1 billion
9 Sergey Brin $55.2 billion
10 Carlos Slim $55.2 billion
Most%20polluted%20cities%20in%20the%20Middle%20East
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Palestine and Israel - live updates
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Full name: Aisha Abdulqader Saeed
Age: 34
Emirate: Dubai
Favourite quote: "No one has ever become poor by giving"
ASSASSIN'S%20CREED%20MIRAGE
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
Group A
Paraguay
Japan
Switzerland
USA
Group B
Uruguay
Mexico
Italy
Tahiti
Group C
Belarus
UAE
Senegal
Russia
Group D
Brazil
Oman
Portugal
Nigeria
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
%3Cp%3EHigh%20fever%20(40%C2%B0C%2F104%C2%B0F)%3Cbr%3ESevere%20headache%3Cbr%3EPain%20behind%20the%20eyes%3Cbr%3EMuscle%20and%20joint%20pains%3Cbr%3ENausea%3Cbr%3EVomiting%3Cbr%3ESwollen%20glands%3Cbr%3ERash%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
RESULTS
6pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 – Group 1 (PA) $55,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Rajeh, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Musabah Al Muhairi (trainer)
6.35pm: Oud Metha Stakes – Rated Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Get Back Goldie, William Buick, Doug O’Neill
7.10pm: Jumeirah Classic – Listed (TB) $150,000 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner: Sovereign Prince, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
7.45pm: Firebreak Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Hypothetical, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer
8.20pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 – Group 2 (TB) $350,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner: Hot Rod Charlie, William Buick, Doug O’Neill
8.55pm: Al Bastakiya Trial – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner: Withering, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass
9.30pm: Balanchine – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,800m
Winner: Creative Flair, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
James Mustich, Workman
