Rovio to Slash 130 Jobs
Rovio, the Finnish maker of the mobile game "Angry Birds" announced on Thursday up to 130 job cuts, blaming slow sales. "We have been building our team on assumptions of faster growth than has materialised," Rovio chief executive Mikael Hed said in a statement, adding that the company would now focus on games, media, and consumer products with the highest growth potential.
"Unfortunately, we also need to consider possible employee reductions of a maximum of 130 people in Finland (approximately 16 percent of workforce)," he said.
Rovio has been trying to expand beyond the video games business to become a global entertainment firm, opening amusement parks in Europe and China, publishing children's books and producing feature films.
Sales of Angry Bird spin-off products accounted for 47 percent of Rovio's total revenue in 2013.
Rovio will also release the first Angry Birds feature film in 2016.