The ‘CoComelon’ producer has cut less than 5% of its workforce in Los Angeles and London in an alleged effort to downsize in-house writers in favor of a freelance model.
The unfortunate move follows a previous wave of staff cuts earlier this year, after the newly acquired Activision Blizzard division sought to reduce “areas of overlap.”
Members urged to attend ‘Stand with Animation’ rally August 10 and support The Animation Guild ahead of next week’s negotiations with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
Like most recent layoffs, the restructuring has been blamed on the current economic downturn; 12% of employees will be integrated into Sony Interactive to spare additional talent from the axe.
Ahead of August 12 negotiation kickoff with AMPTP, the union outlines critical issues and invites the animation community to come together and rally support on August 10.
The cost-cutting effort also includes the elimination of 300 workers by the end of August that follow the layoffs of 500 employees earlier in the year.
Affected staffers include those in finance, business affairs, and production; most cuts will be in the finance department, with less than 10 cuts to Max staff.
Creative Career Coach Pamela Kleibrink Thompson shares how though our industry is suffering through tumultuous, post pandemic times… if you’re out of work, use the time to recharge, reconnect, refocus… even transform.
The studio just confirmed to AWN that Disney’s ongoing cost-cutting moves have finally hit the venerable animation studio in a big way, as roughly 14% of its employees are being let go.
Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery will sell off the Austin-based studio’s content and intellectual property and lay off 150 full-time employees as well as dozens of contractors and content creators.
The media group known for ‘Let’s Go, Bananas!’ and ‘Dee & Friends in Oz’ has downsized its workforce and temporarily sublet its Manhattan office space, citing ‘current market conditions’ for the move.
Adaptation of the popular children’s books by Tui T. Sutherland has found a new home at Amazon MGM Studios after being shelved at Netflix in 2022 amid company layoffs.
The London-based studio will now focus all resources on pre- and post-production, with animation work to be outsourced to third parties.
The tech giant has begun to cull workers from the newly acquired division to reduce ‘areas of overlap’ during the integration effort, with Blizzard Entertainment president Mike Ybarra also exiting the company.
The ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Arcane’ studio is set to reduce staff as “a necessity,” and not to “appease shareholders or to hit a quarterly earnings number.”
The sad news was announced Wednesday in a company memo from entertainment chief Mike Hopkins, who cited the need to reduce costs ‘to deliver even more breakthrough movies, TV shows, and live sports’ as the reason for the workforce cuts; 500 workers will also be cut at Amazon’s Twitch live streaming platform.
2 years after purchasing the VFX company’s tools, pipeline, technology and engineering talent pool, the company moves to refocus on video game development, with a goal to become a major player in the professional M&E market; it will also shutter 14 offices.
The planned restructuring, which includes cutting business ties in the U.K. and Australia, is meant to ‘align our organization with the growth areas of the business and to prepare us for our next chapter as a standalone company,’ says CEO Jeffrey Hirsch.
Zimbabwe-born creator Godwin Jabangwe’s ‘Tunga’ has reportedly been sent back into development while previously unannounced ‘Escape from Beverly Hills’ will re-enter the open market; the streamer has yet to disclose the number of layoffs planned.
The studio’s second round of staff cuts in less than six months ‘were across corporate functions, feature, television and technology departments as part of an overall cost-reduction.’
Announced by CEO Jim Sweeney on Thursday, the company plans a 16% workforce reduction as well as a divestiture of Bandcamp in a move towards a new ‘metaverse-inspired ecosystem’ strategy.
After reportedly laying off 7.5% of its London HQ workforce in July, the prolific VFX firm has given its more than 10,000 employees the option of taking a pay cut up to 25%, join a salary loan payback program, or risk termination.
Due to changes in the global entertainment industry, the studio known for ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars,’ which began as Lucasfilm Animation Singapore in 2004, will soon shutter its doors, eliminating over 300 jobs.
The Polish developer of ‘The Witcher’ and ‘Cyberpunk’ video game franchises claims the axing of around 100 employees is due to overstaffing.
The gaming giant reveals a lofty goal of creating a more self-sufficient and ‘highly cash-flow generative’ company, which means studio closures and yet-undetermined staff reductions.
