Ted Sarandos Admits Netflix Is Struggling to Grow as Stock Continues Downward Slide

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos admitted this week that the streamer is “not growing as fast as I want us to,” as he tries to spin the company’s stock taking a nosedive.

“Overall, we’re not growing as fast as I want us to, and we’re working on making that move faster,” Sarandos said at Bloomberg’s 2026 Screentime event, according to a report by the Hollywood Reporter.

The co-CEO reportedly went on to clarify, “We’re definitely… not in the UGC [user-generated content] business,” adding, “We’re in the professionally produced content business.”

Netflix — which experienced a mere two-percent viewership growth over the first half of 2026 — has reportedly expanded to live content, such as high-profile NFL games, in an effort to spark engagement.

As Breitbart News reported, shares for the streaming giant fell five percent last month after Wells Fargo downgraded Netflix’s stock due to worrying trends in user engagement.

On Wednesday, Sarandos also noted that the streamer allocates roughly five percent of its $20 billion annual content budget toward live programming, but that spending accounts for only about one percent of total viewership — a return on investment that is far from compelling.

Later, however, Sarandos appeared to backpedal on his previous remark about Netflix’s slow growth, stating, “The business is great and growing fine.”

The co-CEO explained that live programming has driven a large number of new sign-ups and has also helped limit subscriber cancellations.

Asked whether he regrets Netflix’s short-lived winning bid for Warner Bros. — but not the Discovery assets — Sarandos reportedly replied, “Nahhh.”

“I think the plan was solid,” the co-CEO said. “We won the deal at some point, so we think we priced it right — at our scale.”

“That was the top price point where I thought we could return value to our shareholders with that asset,” he added. “Any more than that, I thought we’d be taking it into negative territory — even with our scale.”

Alana Mastrangelo-Wrask is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.