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It started with dinner.
Peter Rice and Ynon Kreiz met for a meal in late September. Kreiz surprised the industry by moving from his position as CEO of Mattel to become co-CEO of Skydance with David Ellison.
A report on the Kreiz-Rice meeting was published in the New York Post’s Page Six after Kreiz’s role at Skydance was announced. This led to speculation that he was recruiting Rice for a larger role at the expanded studio. It turns out that Kreiz tried to convince Rice to take a board seat at Barbie’s house.
But Rice was not destined to advise on Uno and Matchbox car issues. The former head of Fox Searchlight and Fox Networks Group, who joined Disney as CEO of TV in 2019 and was unofficially sacked during the Chapek administration, has returned to one of the most powerful positions in town: Netflix’s chief content officer.
Media coverage of Kreiz’s courtship of Rice was one of the spurs that pushed Netflix to make a hiring decision that will have ramifications across its broader film and TV business. Rice’s ouster of Bela Bazaria from her current role was messy and upset many people inside and outside of Netflix.
“We don’t live in Hollywood anymore, we live in Silicon Valley,” said one prominent agent, referring to the general mood of the creative community. Bajaria’s callous treatment of senior executives is a sign that no one is safe from scrutiny and no one should expect a graceful exit.
listen Variety’s Matt Donnelly, Cynthia Littleton, and Michael Schneider explain Netflix’s shake-up.
“Letting someone go feels more like a technical approach than a studio approach. It’s embarrassing and frustrating and adds to the feeling that we’re all playing by Silicon Valley rules,” the agent said.
Sources noted the irony that Cindy Holland, the executive Bajaria replaced at Netflix, got the ax just two weeks after she was hastily ousted from her new role at Skydance. Holland’s role was sacrificed to make way for HBO head Casey Bloys, who will now take charge of all streaming with the completion of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
The explosive upheaval at Netflix’s management, combined with signs that insiders are reading the layoffs the company implemented this week, has sparked new speculation about the streaming giant returning to woo major studios or other important content assets. NBCUniversal is a logical target, considering the company will be spun off from Comcast next year, making it a much smaller and more manageable acquisition than a full Comcast acquisition.
The switch to Rice also raises questions about whether Netflix will remain as aggressive with its local language content strategy as it was under Bajaria. It didn’t go unnoticed that Rice’s first memo to Netflix employees mentioned the need to deliver more hits to the “UCAN” markets (Netflix’s strange term for the United States and Canada).
According to multiple sources, Bajaria learned the harsh reality of his fate Wednesday night when he cornered Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos at the streamer’s offices in Hollywood, shortly before a screening at a private Los Angeles home for the season 3 premiere of the comedy “Nobody Wants This.” (Notably, neither Sarandos nor Bajaria are shown in the promotional photos shared from the event.)
Bajaria bluntly asked Sarandos if there was any truth to the rumors being spread, and Sarandos, who had originally believed he would break the news on Monday, told her at that moment:
Rumors have swirled about Bajaria’s fate in recent months. As the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger saga continues, there’s been plenty of speculation that HBO boss Bloy will either take a big role at Netflix or launch a well-funded prestige label for the streamer. However, the Bajaria speculation cooled once Bloys was confirmed as the new top boss of Skydance streaming. On Monday, Bajaria took the stage at the Mipcom Content Conference in Cannes, where she received the Vanguard Award for her contribution to the global marketplace. manifold And mipcom.
But even as Europe’s top content industry insiders gathered to hear Bazaria speak, conversations about her future began again in Hollywood this week. Netflix has been hit by a storm of events, bracing for its largest-ever layoffs and releasing its third-quarter earnings report on October 20th. The layoffs, which amount to 6% of the company’s workforce, or about 1,000 people, were implemented on Tuesday and Wednesday. That meant Netflix employees were already on edge when the shock of the Rice news hit just after lunchtime in LA on Thursday.
Meanwhile, as recently as two weeks ago, Rice told friends he had no interest in becoming an executive again. This is a sign that Sarandos acted quickly as soon as he knew Rice was there.
Bajaria is understood to have received tremendous support from his wide network of contacts in the local and international creative community. Living up to his reputation for candor, the executive bluntly told friends he was truly shocked, according to multiple sources. Bajaria declined to comment.
Now the microscope turns to Bajaria’s two top vertical lieutenants: Dan Lin in the film and Jinny Howe in the original TV series.
Lin has been a steady contributor to Netflix’s film operations for two and a half years, and has helped usher in a break from heavy spending during the Scott Stuber era. But cutting budgets comes with an emotional toll, so Lin had to ensure talent delivered a high-quality product without the blank checks Sarandos’ signature was widely known for.
In addition to making affordable movies, Lin has also backed notable acquisitions (“Emilia Pérez” and Netflix’s current top hopeful Oscar contender, “La Bola Negra”). However, numerous reports have suggested that Lin will leave the company if Rice takes power. This is an even more sensitive time as Netflix is set to release Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated film ‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew’ in theaters in February. Once Bajaria emerged, the rumors immediately suggested Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy (the ousted head of Warner Bros. Pictures) as potential replacements (which actually started a month ago, as Paramount and WBD finally found a path to combine).
According to insiders, Rice is likely to begin her tenure focusing on the cinematic side of things, so Howe, who has scripted roles in the U.S. and Canada, appears to be safe in her role. Howe, who took over in August 2025 following whispers in Hollywood that Netflix is struggling to produce another blockbuster hit in the vein of recent “Stranger Things” or “Bridgerton,” has a huge slate and is just now starting to see some of his own developments come to fruition.
These include Meryl Streep in “The Corrections,” Adam Driver and Michael Fassbender in “Rabbit, Rabbit,” Martin Scorsese’s “The Roman” and the live-action/CGI “Scooby-Doo: Origins.”
“They want her to stay,” one source said. “If she leaves, it will be a disaster for them.”
Meanwhile, given Rice’s experience, some have wondered whether Sarandos has hired someone who could ultimately be a candidate to replace him. This is if the stock price continues to fall and the company decides that more changes are needed.
This week actually offered more drama than anything Netflix will offer this year.
(Photo: Peter Rice, Bella Bajaria, Dan Lin, Jeanie Howe)