Netflix fires film chief Dan Lin as content shake-up deepens
The ouster follows last week's 6% workforce cut that removed chief content officer Bela Bajaria, with veteran executive Peter Rice now overseeing content ahead of Tuesday's earnings report.
Netflix has dismissed Dan Lin as head of its film division, the latest casualty of a sweeping overhaul of the streamer's creative leadership. According to three sources cited by Variety, co-chief executive Ted Sarandos called Lin on Friday to tell him he had been let go, a day after the departure of chief content officer Bela Bajaria became public. Lin nevertheless appeared at Saturday's Academy Gala and at a Sunday screening in support of the film "La Bola Negra".
The move follows last week's 6% reduction in Netflix's workforce, which also claimed Lin's right-hand executive, Doug Belgrad. The company is reshaping its creative team amid weak share performance and declining user engagement, and veteran film and TV executive Peter Rice will now oversee and reorganise the platform's content.
Accounts differ on why Lin was pushed out, despite meeting his mandate to curb spending and make films that resonated with subscribers. Some insiders say Sarandos wants to present a growth story to Wall Street ahead of Netflix's quarterly results, due on Tuesday; others say Lin struggled to balance streaming hits with theatrical experiments, and Variety also reported tensions with director Greta Gerwig over her "Narnia" project. Source: Variety