Im Zuge von verlagsweiten Umstrukturierungsmaßnahmen beim US-Verlag DC Comics scheinen offenbar vor allem die Bereiche Editorial, Production sowie Manufacturing einer intensiven Neuorganisation unterzogen und dabei auch gleich die neue Abteilung Publishing Support Services ins Leben gerufen zu werden.
Wie das US-Magazin The Hollywood Reporter berichtet, käme es bei den Umstrukturierungen auch zu einer mehr oder weniger größeren Entlassungsfälle, die in der Summe 3% der bisherigen insgesamt 240 Mitarbeiter betreffen würde.
Dazu zählten scheinbar auch Senior Vice President of Sales Trade Marketing John Cunningham, Vice President of Consumer Marketing Eddie Scannell sowie Senior Vice President of Art Direction Mark Chiarello, welche alle samt ihren Posten räumen müssen.
Chefredakteuer Bob Harras soll jedoch weiterhin den Redaktionsbereich unter sich haben, wie auch Senior Vice President of Manufacturing & Operations Alison Gill auf ihrem Posten verbleiben wird. Senior Vice President of Editorial Strategy & Administration Hank Kanalz wird sich derweil um die Verkäufe, Marketing und Promotion kümmern und künftig die Postenbezeichnung Senior Vice President Publishing Strategy & Support Services führen. DC Collectibles wird fortan Teil von Warner Bros. Consumer Products sein, welche im Zuge der Umstrukturierung ebenfalls ganze 10% ihres Personals abgeben mussten.
Jim Lee verbleibt weiterhin als Chief Creative Officer sowie auch DC Co-Publisher an der Seite von Dan DiDio. Beide Publisher halten die Position mittlerweile seit 2010.
THR liegt außerdem ein internes Memo vor, welches am Mittwoch von President of Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences Pam Lifford an diverse DC-Mitarbeiter versandt wurde...
...hier im Original zu lesen:
Today has been a challenging day. We have made organizational changes across DC that we believe will help to strengthen and evolve the division for future success. With these changes come difficult decisions which we take very seriously.
We recognize and appreciate that all of our employees have made considerable contributions to our business and that it is difficult to lose colleagues, many of whom have been here for a long time and have made an important impact on DC. We thank them for their hard work and dedication to DC. As always, we are committed to taking care of our employees and will be as thoughtful as possible with those who are impacted by these changes.
Together with Dan and Jim, and the executive team, we have spent time assessing DC’s business, as well as the comic book publishing landscape. DC is going back to its roots of delivering epic stories with our world-class characters, stories and brands. Being a premier house of storytelling will never go out of style and we intend to ultimately super-serve our existing fans, while providing new compelling content that engages and excites even more fans around the globe. Rest assured, the direct market will remain at the heart of our business – and will continue to be one of our greatest strengths.
The new streamlined structure is focused on creating, delivering and supporting a robust publishing operation that will allow DC to be nimble, navigate an industry in change, and thrive. As we communicated today, we are forming three distinct work streams – Editorial, Production & Manufacturing and Publishing Support Services.
• Editorial will continue to be run by Bob Harras, SVP & Editor-In-Chief, who will now also be responsible for new initiatives and global publishing, editorial scheduling, and art direction
• Production & Manufacturing will continue to be run by Alison Gill, SVP Manufacturing & Operations
• Publishing Support Services is a new business unit consisting of all departments that support the sales, marketing and promotion of our books, and this will be run by Hank Kanalz who is taking on additional responsibilities as SVP Publishing Strategy & Support Services As a result – DC Collectibles and its team will be part of the Consumer Products Toy team moving forward.
We recognize there are other groups across DC who are not fully dedicated to supporting the publishing business and, therefore, are not directly addressed in today’s news. As The Global Brands & Experiences structure continues to develop, I look forward to sharing more with you as that evolves.
Many of you will have questions and in the coming days you will receive more information from Bob, Alison and Hank about their teams. Together with Dan and Jim, I will be hosting Town Hall meetings Thursday on the individual floors to discuss these changes and provide more insight.
Thank you again for your support, hard work and loyalty to DC. Each of you are incredibly valued and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow afternoon where I will do my best to answer any questions.
Pam
(Picture Copyright: DC Comics)
Passionierter Fanboy & Comic-Nerd. Ist seit vielen Jahren im Netz als Blogger unterwegs und fungiert als Betreiber und Autor von bizzaroworldcomics.de.
Zudem wirkt er als Autor für Fachmagazine wie Comic.de und stellt 1/3 Sprechblase bei POW! - Ein ComicPodcast. Er lebt mit seiner Frau und seinen Kindern im Harz.
Wenn die Zahlen im Text stimmen (3% von 240), dann entlässt DC 7 Mitarbeiter. Ist zwar für jeden Einzelnen traurig, aber kann man da wirklich von einer Entlassungswelle sprechen?
Da ausschließlich Mitarbeiter aus den höheren Etagen entlassen werden, ja. Hier wurde eine ganze Reihe von Führungspersonen auf einen Schlag entlassen. Daher Entlassungswelle.