{"id":69227,"date":"2026-07-06T16:30:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T07:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=69227"},"modified":"2026-07-06T16:30:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T07:30:25","slug":"kadokawa-lets-go-of-154-employees-following-call-for-voluntary-early-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-lets-go-of-154-employees-following-call-for-voluntary-early-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Kadokawa lets go of 154 employees following call for voluntary early retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As part of a broader company restructuring effort, Japanese multimedia conglomerate Kadokawa Corporation announced in May<\/a> that it would be offering an unspecified number of employees over the age of 45 with at least 5 years of service the opportunity for early retirement in June with additional benefits such as an enhanced severance package and optional support for re-employment elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, as reported by GameBiz<\/a>, the company announced the results: 154 people applied, resulting in an expected total of 5.4 billion yen (approx. $33.6 million USD) being paid out in severance costs. Employees that volunteered are expected to leave their positions at Kadokawa by July 31st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company plans to report this as an extraordinary loss in its financial report for the first quarter of this fiscal year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the initial cost, Kadokawa estimates that the downsizing achieved by this initiative will result in annual personnel costs being greatly reduced by up to 1.7 billion yen (approx. $10.6 million USD), with the remainder of the current fiscal year ending March 2027 seeing a reduction of 1.1 billion yen (approx. $6.8 million USD) meaning that the savings should offset this year\u2019s steep investment by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kadokawa has found itself in several batches of hot water this year, including declining profits in the publishing industry due to the oversaturation of isekai titles<\/a>, and the alleged violation of the Freelancers Protection Act<\/a>. Furthermore, the company has also been under intense pressure from foreign activist investors<\/a>. Most recently, Hong-Kong based investment fund Oasis Management has been aggressively buying Kadokawa\u2019s shares, currently owning a 15.25% stake in the company as its largest shareholder, and has already made attempts to oust its CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kadokawa\u00a0establishes\u00a0new animation studio dedicated to nurturing young talent into\u00a0professional\u00a0animators\u00a0amidst workforce shortage\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FromSoftware\u00a0parent company Kadokawa criticized for relying\u00a0on third-party publishing\u00a0and\u00a0allowing\u00a0\u201cprofit leakage\u201d\u00a0by\u00a0activist shareholder\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aiming for a “leaner” organizational structure, Kadokawa will be letting go of over 150 employees who applied for voluntary redundancy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":63559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2","date":"2026-07-06T07:30:29+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mpxkzvgxn32j","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mpxkzvgxn32j\",\"cid\":\"bafyreigrqkeyxgprzym3yfrfsxrmwlhkwt6ciyka3taaiw5cb7ntnem4g4\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreib7ptab75z4dvy6snccrfzjzr7o6mc6q4734muhgbjuqqwkfqfaqm\",\"rev\":\"3mpxkzvh4jd2j\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[17,66],"class_list":["post-69227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-japan-related-news","tag-non-gaming-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nKadokawa lets go of 154 employees following call for voluntary early retirement - 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