By In a stunning executive shakeup, Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria is out after 10 years at the streamer — with former Disney and Fox executive Peter Rice expected to take her place, as first reported by Puck.
Bela Bajaria (Credits: Variety)
Bajaria’s exit comes amid a brutal workforce reduction. Around 1,000 employees — 6% of the company — were laid off this week in what marks Netflix’s largest round of job cuts to date. Film VP Doug Belgrad and film director Sheroum Kim were also pink-slipped as part of the restructuring.
Days After MIPCOM, The Axe Fell
The timing is jaw-dropping. Just days ago, Bajaria was on stage at MIPCOM in Cannes, standing by Netflix’s decision not to overpay in its failed $83 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery — which ultimately sold to Paramount-Skydance for $110 billion.
On stage, she struck a confident note about Netflix’s future, saying the streamer would keep doing what it does with the same investment and that Netflix holds only about 5% of global TV viewing time — leaving plenty of room to grow. Notably, she did not address the layoffs that were already underway.
The End Of An Era
Bajaria rose to one of the most coveted jobs in entertainment, overseeing Netflix’s global content strategy during the era of Squid Game, Wednesday, and the streamer’s aggressive push into live events and sports. Before Netflix, she was president of Universal Television, where she worked with heavyweights like Tina Fey and Mike Schur.
Her reported successor, Peter Rice, is a veteran dealmaker who previously ran Disney’s television businesses and Fox Networks — a heavyweight hire for a moment of industry consolidation.
With Warner Bros. now under Skydance, the streaming wars entering a new phase, and a thousand employees gone, Netflix is clearly entering a new chapter. The question now: what does the post-Bajaria content strategy look like?
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Source: Variety — read the full story there.
