Rooster Teeth, the gaming juggernaut which began with Red vs Blue before becoming a media enterprise of its own, has reportedly laid off around 50 staffers, approximately 13 percent of its staff.
Variety reported that the internal layoffs were announced company-wide in a memo to staff, which cited Otter Media CEO and Rooster Teeth co-founder Matt Hullum saying that the group needed to reduce the company’s headcount to meet financial targets.
“This decision is not reflective of anyone’s individual performance, and we’re thankful for all that our former colleagues have contributed. We will be doing everything we can to ease their transition, including helping them find their next opportunities,” Hullum said in the memo, which Variety reposted in full here.
It’s the second time in two years that Rooster Teeth has undergone layoffs, with 10 percent of staff being made redundant in 2018 after a reorganisation at Otter Media, Rooster Teeth’s parent company. The reshuffle saw Machinima fall under Otter Media’s umbrella.
Rooster Teeth is most well known for Red vs Blue and RWBY, the first Western anime to be distributed in Japan, as well as their ongoing content for Achievement Hunter, the RT podcast, ongoing live shows, the Lazer Team films, documentaries and various webseries, including Immersion which recently made its TV debut in the United States. Gen:LOCK, whose main star is voiced by Michael B. Jordan, also published on the Rooster Teeth channel at the beginning of the year, before getting a wider distribution through Cartoon Network in the US.
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