Netflix’s Indian American Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria is leaving Netflix on Oct. 26 after nearly 10 years, most recently leading the company’s global content team, the entertainment services company announced.
She will be replaced as the company’s chief content officer by former Disney exec Peter Rice, who most recently oversaw Disney’s cable channels, news programming and coverage of major sporting events.
Bajaria had been focused on the company’s live sports strategy, looking to create events out of buzzy games and tournaments.
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Thanking Bajaria “for a decade of dedication, innovation, creativity and leadership,” Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix noted she “led enormous changes at Netflix.”
‘She helped broaden our content offering to include the large-scale expansion of unscripted programming and the launches of live events and sports, in addition to crafting and running a world-class, global slate of films and series,” he stated. “I’m incredibly grateful for everything she’s done to help Netflix entertain the world.”
The announcement came a day after Netflix instituted layoffs across its organization, eliminating approximately 6% of its workforce, or roughly 1,000 jobs.
Born in London, Bajaria moved to the U.S. as a child and landed her first job in Hollywood in 1996 as an assistant at CBS. She quickly ascended to VP of movies and miniseries before moving to Universal Television, where she became the first woman of color to run the studio, according to Wrap.
Bajaria joined Netflix in 2016 and was named Chief Content Officer in January 2023. In that role she oversees the teams responsible for all Netflix content from around the world, including series ‘Stranger Things,’ Wednesday,’ ‘Bridgerton,’ ‘Lupin,’ Emmy Award winners ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Adolescence’ and ‘BEEF,’ and Oscar-winning films ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ and ‘Frankenstein.’
Bajaria led Netflix’s push into live events and sports with specials such as ‘Chris Rock: Selective Outrage,’ ‘The Roast of Tom Brady’ and multiyear deals with the NFL and WWE.
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Prior to Netflix, Bajaria was President of Universal Television. Past honors include THR’s Women in Entertainment list, Variety’s LA Women’s Impact Report, TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2022, and Fortune’s Most Powerful Women for the past eight years.
Bajaria serves on the board of The Coca–Cola Company, the LA Board of Governors for the Paley Center, the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors, the Peabody Awards Board of Directors, USC Annenberg Board of Councilors, and the board of LA’s Saban Community Clinic.