Snap’s Top Ad Exec Leaving to Join Netflix as Company Plans Layoffs

While Snap reportedly planning to lay off approximately 20% of its more than 6,400 employees, its chief business officer Jeremi Gorman is leaving the company to join Netflix, The Verge is reporting.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the source notes that the layoffs will begin this week and “hit some departments harder than others.”

The team working on ways for developers to build mini apps and games inside Snapchat will be severely impacted. Similarly, Snap’s hardware division responsible for its AR Spectacles glasses and the recently canceled Pixy camera drone will see significant layoffs.

Meanwhile, Gorman is said to have informed colleagues at Snap earlier his week that she was leaving to join Netflix along with Peter Naylor, Snap’s vice president of ad sales for the Americas.

Both Gorman and Naylor are leaving Snap amid a restructuring of its ads team, according to two people familiar with the matter. Russ Caditz-Peck, a Snap spokesperson, confirmed the departures.

“Jeremi’s deep experience in running ad businesses and Peter’s background in leading ad sales teams together will be key as we expand membership options for consumers through a new ad-supported offering,” Peters said in a statement.

A Netflix spokesperson confirmed that Gorman will be the company’s President of Worldwide Advertising and that she’ll report to COO Greg Peters. Naylor will lead Netflix’s ad sales organization and report to Gorman.