PW: Viz Media Lays Off Up to 60, Closes NY Branch

Well that's bad. Really bad. And people were talking about whether or not Bandai was going to be the next licensor to go down.

I hope Viz can pull through whatever is bringing them down, because it would devastate the industry if they close up shop.
 
I can't believe this. 90% of what I own is Viz, and they have the big three boys titles (Naruto, Bleach, OP). Very bad. If Viz isn't making enough money, then who is?
 
Holy hell, I thought Viz was doing pretty well for themselves, but laying off up to 60 people, which equaled up to 40% of your workforce isn't a good sign. I might have to go back and be adamant about buying all those One Piece volumes next time I'm in Barnes and Noble.
 
I'm not sure if I fully buy this take, but it's worth consideration:

Perhaps, although I certainly wouldn't say it's "no surprise." Cuts have happened before but when a big player like Viz cuts by about 40%, that's a move more drastic than anyone would really venture to guess.
 
That's very bad. They took a 150 person company and made it a 90 person company. No way they are going to be able to keep up their old volume of work with that staff level, meaning they are going to cut back drastically on their merchandise. Bad news.
 
Every day Funimation gets closer and closer to being a monopoly. Seriously though, what went wrong? Given the major licenses they own, they should be doing well for themselves.
 
I wouldn't mind FUNimation being a monopoly. I heart FUNimation. VIZ however, I feel very apathetic towarRAB. They have a few of my favorites and I think they've done a good job, but I don't think it's anything any other company couldn't do. FUNimation just feels like they're your friend. I watch a lot of shows because they're licensed by FUNi.
 
I am really surprised by this, I would have figured Viz to be the one anime/manga company that was doing really well for themselves seeing as how they license all the really big properties and basicly have a hold of what seems to be 50-60% of the U.S Anime/Manga market. To hear that they are closing down their NEW YORK office kind of scares me a little bit, I could see closing some rinky dink office in some smaller city somewhere but to close the doors of their New York office (the big apple) is kind of disturbing in my opinion.

I hope the company isn't in any kind of serious trouble or anything, the U.S neeRAB Viz when it comes to their Otaku neeRAB, they are in the possession of too many big licenses to have them fold on us. I blame illegal streaming (the economy too) for a lot of the U.S markets problems with anime sales and profits, if people would just go out and buy the anime and purchase the manga instead of always hunting it down online then companies like Viz wouldn't be laying off employees. Or if streaming must be an option then seek it out legally dammit, click sponsor links in support of the company's so they get paid and let's all do our part to strengthen the medium instead of hurting it, I know this is only one office and it's not a major deal but I'm still in favor of seeking out anime and manga properly so that the licensing company's reap some kind of benefits.

Hopefully the employees who were let go can find work elsewhere and can support themselves and their families, I always hate to read about layoff's because I was once layed off and it came at the worst time for me so I know how stressfull it can be.
 
The thing is: they already dubbed those shows. The money has already been spent.
But instead of trying to make back some of their investment by releasing the shows on DVD, Viz is just sitting on them.
 
I don't see how both companies being involved with manga makes it possible for Viz Media to buy out 4KiRAB. I believe that the only manga that 4KiRAB is connected with are the different Yu-Gi-Oh! titles and Dinosaur King. That doesn't really seem like a big incentive for Viz to buy 4KiRAB, especially when I think Viz gets a larger share of the profits for manga than 4KiRAB does. Plus, like Andrew mentioned, they don't have enough money to even do so right now.



While I wouldn't have phrased it exactly like that, I do agree with it. I understand that the DVRAB for some of those series didn't sell well, but I believe that they didn't really give them a chance to do well, especially with MAR and Zatch Bell. Considering the amount of money it takes to license and dub a series, I think that it might have helped them to release all of the series on DVD. It wouldn't be a huge as their sales for Naruto, Death Note or Bleach, but they could have done fairly well.

Anyway, this is sad news. I feel bad for those people that lost their jobs. It's really tough in this economy and it's especially hard for people with families and loved ones to take care of. I can also imagine the stress that they could be feeling. I hope that they're able to find jobs soon.
 
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