COVID-19 Claims Jobs as Funko Reduces Workforce by 25%

The Funko Booth at SDCC 2019 | Source: The Toy Book

As the U.S. now deals with civil unrest and massive protests in response to the killing of George Floyd, the COVID-19 pandemic — and its casualties — continues.

One major fear for businesses has been the potential for temporary furloughs due to coronavirus-related closures to become permanent layoffs. That’s just what’s happened for 25% of the workforce at Washington-based Funko.

In its latest Form 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the “purveyors of pop culture” collectibles, toys, apparel, and accessories revealed that it expects to incur approximately $1 million in charges related to certain termination benefits.

Related: Facing the Unknown: The Toy Industry Isn’t Playing When it Comes to COVID-19

The Toy Book has confirmed that some layoffs have already taken place, and Funko says that the majority of its workforce reduction will occur by the end of the second quarter with the remainder of cuts to occur by the end of the third quarter.

Funko, which has been diversifying into new product lines such as Marvel Battleworld: Mystery of the Thanostones and new divisions such as Funko Games, has largely been tethered to live events for sales that have vaporized this year with the cancelation of Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC) and others. On its latest earnings call, CEO Brian Mariotti cautioned that the biggest challenges of 2020 would emerge in the second quarter.

About the author

James Zahn

James Zahn, AKA The Rock Father, is Editor-in-Chief of The Toy Book and Co-President of The International Toy Magazines Association (ITMA). He is also a Senior Editor at The Toy Insider and The Pop Insider, and Editor of The Toy Report, The Toy Book‘s weekly industry newsletter. As a pop culture and toy industry expert, Zahn has appeared as a panelist and guest at events including Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC), New York Comic Con, Wizard World Chicago, and the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy. Zahn has more than 30 years of experience in the entertainment, retail, and publishing industries, and is frequently called upon to offer expert commentary for publications such as Forbes, Marketwatch, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, Reuters, the Washington Post, and more. James has appeared on History Channel’s Modern Marvels, was interviewed by Larry King and Anderson Cooper, and has been seen on Yahoo! Finance, CNN, CNBC, FOX Business, NBC, ABC, CBS, WGN, The CW, and more. Zahn joined the Adventure Media & Events family in 2016, initially serving as a member of the Parent Advisory Board after penning articles for the Netflix Stream Team, Fandango Family, PBS KIDS, Sprout Parents (now Universal Kids), PopSugar, and Chicago Parent. He eventually joined the company full time as a Senior Editor and moved up the ranks to Deputy Editor and Editor-in-Chief.