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Dark Horse Comics Confirms Layoffs

Dark Horse Comics announced on Tuesday through a statement given to The Beat website that it has begun laying off staff positions as of Monday earlier this week, but did not comment on how many positions or who it has laid off. Dark Horse stated that it is responding to "increasing overhead, changing market conditions, and external economic factors."

Dark Horse made the statement after Konner Knudsen, one of its associate editors, announced on their Bluesky account that they were laid off.

Dark Horse is part of the split by conglomerate Embracer Group in April last year into three companies: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends. Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends currently owns Dark Horse Comics.

Embracer Group began acquiring Dark Horse Comics in December 2021, and completed the acquisition in March 2022. The acquisiton was part of the company's spree of acquisitions of media and game companies beginning in 2019. After a planned US$2 billion investment from Savvy Games Group (a company owned by Saudi Arabi's Public Investment Fund) did not go through as planned in May 2023, the company found itself in debt, with the company soon planning restructuring, leading to mass layoffs, the sale of properties and subsidiary companies, and the three-company split from April last year.

Mike Richardson founded Dark Horse Comics in 1986 as an offshoot of his comic book store chain Things From Another World. The company published its first manga, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, in 1987.

Source: The Beat (Heidi MacDonald) via ICv2