Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters assured investors this week that they have nothing to be concerned about. Sure, the company was going to lay off 1,000 employees , downsizing its product, tech, and legal departments , and was ousting its chief content officer , film chairman , and film vice president . But it had also hired a new COO — “one of the most effective at-scale operators in the entertainment industry,” Sarandos said — to turn things around.

Though executive shake-ups aren’t uncommon, having so many of them back to back would send a concerning message even in the best of circumstances. With Netflix, however, the situation looks undeniably grim given the streamer’s recent troubles with missed ad revenue targets, sluggish growth, and a failed attempt at acquiring Warner Bros . Losing WB to David Ellison’s Paramount was a huge blow — that merger would have given Netflix an easy way to expand its catalog, grow its user base, and build a more established presence in movie theaters.…