Rovio To Slash Staff By 16 Percent Ahead Of Angry Birds Movie Debut
It's tough to fathom that Rovio could be in any kind of financial bind that would cause the company to hand out pink slips as a cost cutting measure, let alone layoff up to 130 employees, or 16 percent of its workforce. After all, this is the company responsible for the wildly popular Angry Birds franchise, which has been massively successful. Yet profits are down, so the decision's been made as Rovio looks to spur growth within the company.
We have been building our team on assumptions of faster growth than have materialized. As a result, we announced today that we plan to simplify our organization around our three key businesses with the highest growth potential: games, media, and consumer products," Rovio said in a statement. Unfortunately, we also need to consider possible employee reductions of a maximum of 130 people in Finland."
Rovio said the decision to make changes like this is never easy, but it's better to do it now while the company is still "in a good place to reignite growth" rather than wait.
As successful as Angry Birds has been, competition in the mobile app market is tough. Rovio's operating profit was cut in half to around $46 million last year. Looking ahead, however, Rovio has a strategy to keep those dollars coming in. The company is working on an animated movie that's due out on July 1, 2016.
The cast will feature several Saturday Night Live alumni, including Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader, and Maya Rudolph. Other names associated with the all-star comedy cast include Josh Gad (Skip Gilchrist in 1600 Penn), Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down, Your Highness), and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones).
We have been building our team on assumptions of faster growth than have materialized. As a result, we announced today that we plan to simplify our organization around our three key businesses with the highest growth potential: games, media, and consumer products," Rovio said in a statement. Unfortunately, we also need to consider possible employee reductions of a maximum of 130 people in Finland."
Rovio said the decision to make changes like this is never easy, but it's better to do it now while the company is still "in a good place to reignite growth" rather than wait.
As successful as Angry Birds has been, competition in the mobile app market is tough. Rovio's operating profit was cut in half to around $46 million last year. Looking ahead, however, Rovio has a strategy to keep those dollars coming in. The company is working on an animated movie that's due out on July 1, 2016.
The cast will feature several Saturday Night Live alumni, including Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader, and Maya Rudolph. Other names associated with the all-star comedy cast include Josh Gad (Skip Gilchrist in 1600 Penn), Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down, Your Highness), and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones).
