Japanese manga, anime and game publishing giant Kadokawa announced on May 14 that it would be launching a “special early retirement program” targeting an unspecified number of employees. The company will solicit voluntary resignations among employees aged 45 or older who have at least five years of service.
According to the announcement, this decision comes from the need to manage costs and “build a leaner and more efficient organizational structure” in the rapidly polarizing content industry. Kadokawa aims to restructure its workforce as it expands its operations across publishing, animation, live-action, video games and other fields.
The company will be accepting applications for early retirement from June 1 to June 26, with applicants expected to leave the company as of June 31, 2026 (note that all dates are marked as “tentative”). Kadokawa will offer employees who agree to retirement an additional severance package on top of standard severance pay, as well as optional re-employment support. These expenses will be recorded as an extraordinary loss in the company’s financial results for the current fiscal year.
Kadokawa is one of many Japanese companies to employee buyouts to downsize, with the most recent example being game developer COLOPL, who let go of 104 full-time employees in February amidst financial difficulties.
