After letting go nearly 30% of its work force and shuttering its Silicon Valley office a year and a half ago, Funny or Die company chief Mike Farah announced another round of
layoffs in a staff memo.
“The simple fact is that today we have to let go of some great people at Funny Or Die, and it sucks,” Farah stated. “…like a lot
of other digital media companies, we’re facing tough challenges that we can no longer ignore. So we must adapt.”
The company, which features video-heavy content, was founded by
CAA, Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy in 2007. Funny or Die quickly found financial support from AMC Networks, Time Warner and Sequoia Capital.
According
to Deadline Hollywood, the company has not
disclosed the number of employees who were let go, but like other media companies, Funny or Die has been forced to scale back as revenue streams have not kept up with
spending and expansion.
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Farah emphasized the company will “still develop, produce and sell premium comedy in a wide range of formats for a wide range of platforms, from short-form
digital series to branded content and long-form television and everything in between.”
The site reaches an audience of 52 million.
He highlighted successes from the past
year, such as videos "Get Out (of the White House)" and "Zack Morris is Trash" and TV shows like American Vandal.
A meeting is scheduled for Friday to inform remaining
employees of what the changes mean for them.
Funny and Die isn't alone. Over the last year, once seemingly indestructible digital brands,
like BuzzFeed, have begun to feel the squeeze of shrinking revenue streams, leading to layoffs and scaling back production.