A Day After Cutting 1,000 Jobs, Netflix Replaces Its Content Chief

Former Disney TV chairman Peter Rice starts Oct. 26 and keeps his job producing the LA28 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies.

Peter Rice hasn't held a full-time executive job since Disney fired him as its television chairman four years ago. On Oct. 26, he takes over Netflix's $20 billion content budget.

Netflix named Rice its chief content officer Thursday, moments after word spread that the company had pushed out Bela Bajaria, Deadline reported. It was the second shock in two days: on Wednesday, the streamer had started cutting about 1,000 jobs, roughly 6% of its workforce.

Staffers already worn out by layoffs are bracing for more upheaval, Deadline reported, and the change comes as Netflix's stock price slides and its engagement growth slows. Deadline also reported that the cuts hit executives in unscripted casting and development, the side of the business Bajaria is credited with growing.

Bajaria spent a decade at Netflix. In an internal memo Deadline published, co-CEO Ted Sarandos credited her with the big push into unscripted shows, the launch of live events and sports, and a run of hits that took in "Squid Game," "Queer Eye" and the NFL. He also conceded it was "a big change in a year that has already had its share."

That year has been rough. TheWrap reported that Netflix's engagement sagged over 2026 as it spent heavily on live events, while Skydance, which beat Netflix to Warner Bros. with a $110 billion bid, gets ready to challenge it. TheWrap reads the Rice hire as a back-to-basics move, with film and TV expected to return to the center of the business.

Deadline called Rice a rare executive who's run both movies and TV at the top. Sarandos's memo credits him with "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Juno" at Fox Searchlight, then a Disney television operation that included "The Bear" and "Abbott Elementary." Deadline flagged one gap in that résumé: streaming. TheWrap notes that his TV oversight ran from broadcast to cable to streaming.

Sarandos's pitch leans hardest on Rice's ties to talent, and that's where Netflix has been losing ground. TheWrap noted that Matt and Ross Duffer, who made "Stranger Things," have left for Paramount, and that David Fincher chose not to renew his production deal. Rice's own producing work since Disney has kept him close to filmmakers like Danny Boyle, whose "28 Years Later" he produced, and Aaron Sorkin, whose "The Social Reckoning" opened last weekend.

He isn't giving up his Olympic job, either. LA28 hired him in July 2025 to oversee the Games' ceremonies and content, and Deadline reported that he'll stay on as executive producer of the opening and closing ceremonies. "Netflix is fortunate to have him," LA28 boss Casey Wasserman said, according to Deadline.

Netflix employees get to speak first. Sarandos told them there'd be a companywide town hall, mostly Q&A, on Oct. 21. Rice starts five days later. At Disney, TheWrap reported, his pandemic-era Zoom town halls and Q&As won over the rank and file.

Source: Deadline, retrieved October 16, 2026. Other sources: TheWrap.