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Funko layoffs will cost about 250 jobs at Everett-based pop culture marketer

By The Seattle Times
Published: June 5, 2020, 9:14am

Funko, the Everett-based designer and marketer of pop culture figurines, will cut a quarter of its global workforce, laying off about 250 people as it copes with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company said in a brief regulatory filing late Wednesday it expects “a majority of the workforce reduction” will take place by the end of June, and the rest by the end of the third quarter, meaning September.

Funko CEO Brian Mariotti told shareholders during a virtual annual meeting May 27 that in response to the pandemic, the company initially “closed all of our corporate offices and our 2 flagship retail stores,” and added safety precautions at its distribution centers. It also has “accelerated the expansion of Funko’s e-commerce platform,” he said.

The company said in April it was furloughing a “significant portion” of its employees, and that top management would take a 20% pay cut through the end of June.

According to its year-end filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Funko had 744 employees in the United States, with another 252 in Europe and 10 in Asia.

In 2017 the company opened an elaborate flagship retail store in Everett, as part of a new strategy to sell its products directly as well as through other merchants. It licenses and sells a range of “vinyl figures, action toys, plush, apparel, housewares and accessories” drawn from pop culture hits ranging from Spider-Man and Batman to Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Funko said it expects about $1 million in charges related to the job cuts. The company could not immediately be reached for comment on the location of the job cuts or the status of its stores.

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