Lawsuits

Fox accuses Netflix of poaching two of its executives

A sign outside the 21st Century Fox headquarters in New York.
Scott Mlyn | CNBC

21st Century Fox accused Netflix of illegally hiring two of its executives in a lawsuit filed Friday, Deadline reports.

Fox alleges that Netflix has been conducting 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," Deadline said. The suit was filed in California Superior Court.

The two executives in question, now-former VP of Promotions Marco Waltenberg and now-former VP of Creative Tara Flynn, were both under contract when they left for Netflix, according to the publication.

Both were hired earlier this year. They now work in the streaming giant's promotions and drama programming development department.

The suit argues that "Netflix is defiantly flouting the law by soliciting and inducing employees to break their contracts," a Fox spokesperson told Deadline. "We intend to seek all available remedies to enforce our rights and hold Netflix accountable for its wrongful behavior."

A Netflix spokesperson told CNBC the company intends to defend the lawsuit vigorously.

"We believe Fox's use of fixed-term employment contracts in this manner are enforceable," the spokesperson said. "We believe in employee mobility and will fight for the right to hire great colleagues no matter where they work."

Read the full report on Deadline.

CNBC's Julia Boorstin contributed to this report.