Netflix is shaking up its top executive ranks. Bela Bajaria is stepping down from her role as Chief Content Officer after nearly a decade at the streaming giant, with former Disney and Fox executive Peter Rice stepping in to take over the global content operation.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the high-level executive exit comes directly on the heels of Netflix cutting roughly 1,000 jobs — representing about 6 percent of its total global workforce — amid mounting market pressure over slowing subscriber growth and shifting audience metrics.
Bajaria originally joined Netflix back in 2016 to oversee unscripted and local-language scripted series before steadily rising to become Chief Content Officer in early 2023. During her tenure at the streamer, she played a pivotal and hands-on role in expanding the company's international footprint, scaling its unscripted portfolio, and launching massive, cultural phenomenon hits like Squid Game, Wednesday, and Bridgerton.
Her successor, Peter Rice, brings decades of traditional media experience and executive leadership from his time heading television units at Fox and Disney. He will take immediate charge of the company’s entire film, television, unscripted, and live programming slate.
Addressing the dramatic transition, co-CEO Ted Sarandos praised Bajaria for leading enormous creative and operational changes at the company.
Commenting on Rice, he stated that the incoming executive would help the platform “continue to scale and deliver members more of the stories they love,” stated The Hollywood Reporter. While Rice said, "Netflix has fundamentally changed the way stories are made, shared and experienced around the world."
The sweeping layoffs and executive changes come as Netflix seeks a strategic reset amid fluctuating viewership growth.
While the streaming giant remains highly profitable and continues to expand its revenue, overall audience engagement has proven less steady in recent quarters, the publication reported.
Addressing the platform's trajectory at the Bloomberg Screentime summit in September, co-CEO Ted Sarandos admitted that "overall, we’re not growing as fast as I want us to, and we’re working on making that move faster."