It wasn’t a good sign when Funko announced earlier this month its plans to straight up destroy somewhere between $30 and $36 million worth of its collectible vinyl figurines due to dwindling demand that’s tanked their value. But Funko’s recent decision to lay off about half of the staffers at subsidiary Mondo paints a clear picture of a company struggling to secure its financial footing.
Though Funko only acquired Mondo — the Austin-based nostalgic memorabilia outfit known for its small-batch movie posters and vinyl records — from Alamo Drafthouse last summer, The Wrap reports that “most of” Mondo’s staff, including co-founders Rob Jones and Mitch Putnam, were laid off this week. Along with the layoffs, Funko is said to be shuttering Mondo’s poster division entirely, although io9 reports that the company intends to continue producing posters “under different leadership” in the future.
For the time being, Mondo’s toy and record-producing branches will live to see another day, and there are still a handful of posters up for sale on Mondo’s site. The selection is quite limited, though, and it more than seems like the Mondo people once knew and loved is gone.
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