Leading Animation Studio On The Brink

[Mulboyne]

Anime News: Gonzo to Restructure, Reduce Staff Count from 130 to 30
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun paper reports on Friday that the Japanese company GDH is restructuring its animation studio Gonzo. Within five years, Gonzo will reduce its current creative staff of 130 to 30. GDH hopes the move will return Gonzo to profitability in those five years after slowing DVD sales took the company into red-ink territory. GDH asked for about 50 of its employees, or about 20% of its workforce at the time, to "voluntarily retire" late last year, but only 36 responded and agreed to its severance package of one month's pay. With the new restructuring plan, more jobs will be cut, and the business operations of GDH's anime unit will be drastically reduced. With only 30 members in its production staff under the restructuring plan, Gonzo will not be able to proceed with anime projects on its own...more...

[Hokgwai]

....yet another blow for traditional animation....

[Midwinter]

....yet another blow for traditional animation....

Gonzo were hardly traditional. If memory serves they were amongst the first to adopt CG for use in TV animation.

[Buraku]

I fear the big word for many business in 09 will be "collapse"

[ac!d_burn]

Those of you who are currently watching the fanservice-heavy
show Strike Witches have little to fear, for the show will continue to get new episodes even if Gonzo should be sold to someone else or disbanded completely.

[Kagetsu]

Hmmm. So long as Keiji Goto is still on the books. ^_^

And so long as the new Kiddy Grade makes it out, I'll be okay too. ^_~