Crunchyroll is planning to build tech hubs in the USA, Mexico, and India.
In a report published by Variety on Tuesday, 12 August, it was revealed that Crunchyroll is laying off a number of its employees. A memo from the company’s CEO Rahul Purini revealed that this is not a cost-cutting measure but a restructuring on the international scale. Crunchyroll is planning to build tech hubs in the USA, Mexico, and India to support the rapidly growing anime fandoms in these regions.
Rahul Purini announces employee layoffs ahead of restructuring
Sony’s anime focused platform Crunchyroll has gained massive popularity in the last few years. It seems that due to the rapid growth, the company is thinking about shifting their resources outside of the USA and into the global market. Unfortunately, the memo didn’t reveal exactly how many employees are being laid off.
However, it’s likely that employees are being let go from all the 13 offices across nine countries in North America, Europe, and Asia. There are over 1000 employees working at Crunchyroll. Purini’s memo also pointed out that some of the employees will be assigned new roles while the others will expand the scope of their jobs.
Furthermore, Purini highlights that this is not a cost-cutting measure but a restructuring initiative. Due to the massive popularity of anime on a global scale, Crunchyroll is planning to build engineering hubs in the USA, Mexico, and India. This is to ensure a better service for the global fans in these regions. Moreover, the company will also be looking forward to broadening its scope beyond anime, which includes working on manga and other collectibles.
According to Purini, “This decision is the culmination of very thoughtful discussions and planning with leaders throughout the organization and is not a cost-cutting measure or driven by financial performance. There is a tremendous opportunity ahead of us and these changes are about proactively setting up for scale and success.” It seems that Purini and the other organisational heads at Crunchyroll are looking forward to the growth and opportunities lying ahead of them.
Previously, it was reported that Crunchyroll has already reached 17 million subscribers globally. Parent company Sony was already planning to broaden the horizons of the platform, which seems to have begun already. It seems that a manga service will also be added to Crunchyroll’s subscription tier soon. Sony acquired Crunchyroll back in 2021 from AT&T. They closed their Funimation service and listed all its content together under Crunchyroll just a year later.
