The battle for new streaming subscribers is tough. Netflix is ​​now drawing first conclusions from it — and laying 150 employees out the door due to low growth prospects.

US streaming giant Netflix has embarked on austerity due to poor growth prospects. A company spokesman for AFP news agency said on Tuesday that the dismissals of “about 150 “great associates” were “primarily due to the needs of the company, not personal performance.”

Employees in the United States were particularly affected. Netflix has also reduced its sub-contracting work. Recently, the streaming service announced a reduction in subscription numbers for the first time in more than ten years. This was a drop of 200,000 subscribers, less than 0.1 percent of the total subscriber base of 221.6 million.

However, it was enough to cause concern among Netflix shareholders. “Slowing down our revenue growth means that we as a company must also slow down the growth of our expenses,” the spokesperson said.

Among other things, Netflix is ​​battling increased competition from new streaming services, such as Disney and Apple. In addition, the group has also identified illegal sharing of user accounts as a hindrance to development.

According to company estimates, more than 100 million households use Netflix without paying. The group now wants to take strong action and introduce new membership models that allow sharing for a surcharge. It is also considering an ad-supported model to reduce prices.