Angry Birds maker Rovio to cut jobs by as much as 16%
Angry Birds maker Rovio Entertainment Ltd. will cut as much as 16% of its workforce after building up its staff too quickly following the success of its most popular game.
In a blog post Thursday titled “Towards a simplified organization,” Chief Executive Mikael Hed said that in order to succeed in a fast-moving business, the company needed to better adapt to change.
He called the layoffs of as many as 130 people in Finland, where the company is based, “painful measures,” but didn’t offer details on what kinds of jobs would be cut and when.
“It is never easy to consider changes like this,” he said, “but it is better to do them sooner rather than later, when we are in a good place to reignite growth.”
Hed said the mobile games maker had built out its team based on assumptions of faster growth that didn’t materialize. It currently has about 800 employees.
The privately held company will now focus on three key businesses with the highest growth potential: games, media and consumer products.
Angry Birds, a slingshot game involving birds and pigs, became a global phenomenon after its 2009 release, quickly reaching the top spot in Apple’s App Store chart. It has been downloaded more than 1 billion times.
The franchise has also spawned licensing deals that include plush toys and children’s books.
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