Rovio Entertainment is unhappy with the work of its licensing business. She will restructure this area. The procedure will affect 32 employees, 20 of them will lose their jobs.
It was announced yesterday, October 7th. The procedure will begin next week, on October 14.
It is officially stated that the restructuring and layoffs are associated with a decrease in financial expectations from the licensing business.
Back in July, there was no talk of this. At that time, Rovio was not going to radically change its strategy, despite the drop in royalties.
Recall that according to the results of the first half of 2019, the revenue of the direction fell by 28.9% to € 11 million. As for the operating profit, it amounted to a ridiculous €1.2 million for such a company.
In the summer, Rovio still believed in the sequel “Angry Birds in the cinema“. The company had high expectations for the project. But they were not destined to come true. The film was released on the big screen in August and failed at the box office, collecting 2.6 times less than the first part.
It can be concluded that the current restructuring is a response to low fees. However, the Rovio management does not mention the tape at all in the press release.
The head of the company calls the reason for the change of strategy the high competition of brands in the consumer goods market.
Rovio has a unique range of products, and the Angry Birds brand is very famous in the world. Be that as it may, competition in the licensing business, especially concerning consumer goods, has intensified. Therefore, today we strive to work more efficiently and change our approach to brand licensing. These changes will not affect our gaming business.
CEO of Rovio Entertainment
As part of the new strategy, the company is going to focus on the most important licenses and retailers, key product positions and categories.
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