TL;DR: Netflix has named former Disney television chief Peter Rice as its new chief content officer, effective October 26. He replaces Bela Bajaria, who is leaving after nearly 10 years at the company. The shake-up was announced on October 15, one day after co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters told staff Netflix would let go of roughly 6% of its workforce, about 1,000 people. Rice will run Netflix’s global content organization, including series, film and live events, as the streamer faces slowing engagement growth, tougher competition from YouTube and a falling share price ahead of its third-quarter earnings on October 20.
What Netflix announced
In a statement on its newsroom, Netflix said Rice “will join the company as Chief Content Officer, effective October 26.” As CCO, he will lead Netflix’s global content organization, “overseeing scripted and unscripted series, film, live events and more across all regions.”
Sarandos praised both executives. Of Bajaria, he said: “She led enormous changes at Netflix. She helped broaden our content offering to include the large-scale expansion of unscripted programming and the launches of live events and sports.” Of Rice, he said: “Peter is one of the most effective at-scale operators in the entertainment industry. His business acumen is sharp, his talent relationships are exceptionally strong, and his experience across TV and film is deep and broad.”
Rice said in the statement that Netflix has “fundamentally changed the way stories are made, shared and experienced around the world,” adding that he is excited “to help bring even more great stories to members everywhere.”
Who is Peter Rice?
Rice is one of Hollywood’s best-known TV and film executives. According to Netflix, he was most recently chairman of Walt Disney Television and chairman of general entertainment for The Walt Disney Company, where he oversaw ABC, FX Networks, Hulu, National Geographic, Disney Channel and more, covering “more than 300 shows and 4,000 hours of television a year.” Shows under his leadership included The Bear, Abbott Elementary, Shogun and Only Murders in the Building.
| Role | Highlights (per Netflix and Variety) |
|---|---|
| Chairman, Walt Disney Television; Chairman of General Entertainment, Disney | Oversaw ABC, FX, Hulu, National Geographic and Twentieth Century Fox Television |
| President, 21st Century Fox; CEO, Fox Networks Group | Fox’s lead executive on the Hulu board |
| President, Fox Searchlight Pictures | Released Slumdog Millionaire, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine and Sideways |
| Producer (after Disney) | Saturday Night, 28 Years Later and Warfare; currently producing Alex Garland’s Elden Ring and the LA28 Olympic ceremonies |
Variety notes that Rice’s exit from Disney in 2022, under then-CEO Bob Chapek, shocked the industry given his standing there. The LA Times adds that his background running Fox Searchlight could mean he wants to put his own stamp on Netflix’s film group, currently led by Dan Lin, citing Chapman University dean Stephen Galloway.
Bajaria’s decade at Netflix
Bajaria joined Netflix in 2016 and was named chief content officer in January 2023. Variety credits her with overseeing hits including Bridgerton, Squid Game, Adolescence, Stranger Things and Wednesday, plus films such as KPop Demon Hunters and Frankenstein. She also pushed Netflix into live events and sports, including deals with the NFL and WWE. Netflix’s global sports ambitions have kept growing since, as we saw when it won exclusive World Cup 2030 rights in Spain.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Bajaria did not respond to a request for comment.
The layoffs that came a day earlier
On October 14, Sarandos and Peters sent a memo to staff, published in full by Variety, saying Netflix would be “letting go of roughly 6% of our colleagues, with the greatest impact to our product, tech, legal, and HR teams.” Variety puts that at about 1,000 jobs and calls it Netflix’s biggest layoff to date. Here’s how the two events line up:
- October 14: Co-CEOs announce cuts of roughly 6% of staff. Variety reports Netflix had about 16,000 full-time employees at the end of 2025.
- This week: Variety reports film VP Doug Belgrad and film director Sheroum Kim were also let go as part of the restructuring.
- October 15: Netflix announces Bajaria’s exit and Rice’s appointment.
- October 20: Netflix is scheduled to report third-quarter 2026 earnings after the market closes, according to Variety.
- October 26: Rice starts as chief content officer.
Despite the cuts, the co-CEOs insisted the company is healthy: “Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full year forecast.” They added that Netflix will “continue to invest aggressively in high impact areas.”
Why Netflix is shaking things up now
The pressure is mostly about attention and investor confidence. The LA Times reports that YouTube accounted for 14.2% of US TV streaming time in July, compared with Netflix’s 7.8%, citing Nielsen data. It also reports that Netflix stock is down 40% from a year ago, though shares closed up 3% at $72.61 on Thursday, the day of the announcement. Rivals are chasing short-form viewing too, with Amazon adding a TikTok-style feed to Prime Video.
“Due to the slowdown in massive hits and viewer growth, an ax was gonna fall on some executives who led content strategy,” Emarketer senior analyst Ross Benes told the LA Times.
Awards have cooled as well. Variety reports Netflix won 16 Primetime Emmys this year, down from 30 in 2025, its lowest haul since 2016. The LA Times also notes Netflix had been in the running to buy Warner Bros. Discovery but bowed out when the price was no longer “financially attractive.”
In his memo announcing the leadership change, quoted by Variety and the LA Times, Sarandos wrote: “I know this is a big change in a year that has already had its share. But I also see an opportunity to take our slate to the next level, especially in UCAN [U.S. and Canada] where we have an outsize impact in creating big, buzzy hits.”
What it means for viewers
Don’t expect your Netflix home screen to change overnight. Shows and films take years to develop, so the first projects Rice greenlights are unlikely to arrive soon. But the signals are clear. Sarandos’s focus on “big, buzzy hits” in the US and Canada, and Rice’s history with prestige TV like The Bear and Shogun, suggest Netflix wants fewer forgettable releases and more event-level series. Live events and sports, which Bajaria built up, now fall under Rice too.
The next clue comes on October 20, when Netflix reports quarterly results. Investors are likely to listen closely for updates on engagement, ad revenue and content spending, and for any more detail on how the restructuring will affect what gets made.
The bottom line
In the space of two days, Netflix cut about 1,000 jobs and replaced the executive who ran its entire content operation. Peter Rice brings decades of experience at Disney and Fox and a reputation for strong talent relationships. His job is to deliver the hits that win back attention from YouTube and confidence from Wall Street, and he starts on October 26.
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