As Netflix shares tumble, first round of painful layoffs hit the company

Back April 19 – just 10 days ago, Netflix stock hit $348. Then their quarterly report was released. The company admitted to bleeding subscribers.

Today, the stock fell to around $196 after hitting a low this week at $187. Ouch! Stock has tumbled and things are changing fast at the #1 streamer.

Today, the company announced painful layoffs on its Tudum site (tudum, as in the sound of the Netflix logo, or tu-dum!). Tudum was the website for Netflix users. But it turned out to be consumable. And that won’t be the end of layoffs. More soon.

It comes as CNN Plus shut down yesterday after less than a month in operation. The streaming site had no viewers and lost at least $300 million. Some of the staff will transfer to CNN. But many will simply be released.

When I was part of the original News Digital group responsible for Foxnews.com in 1999, we saw the same thing. News Digital was like a balloon that grew bigger and bigger until it burst. We had beautiful movie sets like offices in the Bed Bath and Beyond building on Sixth Avenue. More and more staff coming from different divisions. The emotions were strong. And then one day, it was all over. The set had become much too big. There was no income. Fortunately, I was one of the few people who transferred into the main company. But I remember standing in the News Digital offices after everyone was let go, the lights were out and there were just rows and rows of abandoned computers. It’s very sad.

Netflix will bounce back, of course. “Ozark” dropped today. The big new season of “Stranger Things” is coming next month and it’s going to be huge. So have no fear. But it will be a painful time.