Netflix downsizes its animation department, impacting 30 employees

Yet another round of layoffs at Netflix has unfortunately affected 30 Netflix Animation employees. Deadline first reported the news, and Netflix confirmed to TechCrunch that the company is downsizing the department.

Earlier this year, Netflix brought on Karen Toliver as vice president of Animation Film Content and Traci Balthazor as vice president of Animation Film Production. The company told us that, similar to other major animation film studios, the idea is to downsize so the animation film production arm is better organized under a central leader — Balthazor.

It’s Netflix’s hope that with a reduced staff, Netflix Animation can make even more high-quality films. The streaming service has many Academy Award-nominated animated titles, such as “Robin, Robin,” “Klaus,” “The Mitchells vs. The Machines,” “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon,” “I Lost My Body” and “Over the Moon.” The slate also includes “Back to the Outback,” “The Willoughbys,” “Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood,” “The Sea Beast” and more.

Over the summer, the streaming service laid off over 450 employees in a major workforce reduction. This was mainly due to slow revenue growth.

In May, TechCrunch learned that changes to animated projects could impact around 70 employees in the animation division.

There has been bad news all around for Netflix, as the streaming giant lost 970,000 subscribers in July, adding to the loss of 200,000 subs in April.

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