Fox is suing Netflix for poaching employees
21st Century Fox has filed a lawsuit against Netflix accusing the streaming-video business of illegally hiring two of its executives who were still under contract.
Netflix
Fox said that Netflix has led “a brazen campaign to unlawfully target, recruit, and poach valuable Fox executives by illegally inducing them to break their employment contracts with Fox to work at Netflix.”
The lawsuit is in relation to the hiring of Marcos Waltenberg, Twentieth Century Fox’s vice president of promotions, and Tara Flynn, who was a creative executive at Fox 21.
Netflix hired Waltenberg in January and Flynn in August. According to the lawsuit, Flynn was under contract at Fox until November 2019, while Waltenberg’s contract was set to expire at the end of 2016, though Fox had an option to extend it for an additional two years.
In a written statement, a Netflix spokesperson said the business intends to defend the lawsuit "vigorously".
"We do not believe Fox’s use of fixed-term employment contracts in this manner are enforceable. We believe in employee mobility and will fight for the right to hire great colleagues no matter where they work.”
An additional 19 Fox executives without contracts have also joined the streaming service over the past two years, according to The Wall Street Journal.