Rooster Teeth closing idles 133
The company has its headquarters in Austin
Rooster Teeth is laying off more than 100 people in Central Texas after the Austin-based media company announced last week it was shutting down after more than two decades.
The 133 layoffs, which included some remote employees who report to the Austin office, were noted in a WARN notice, short for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, that was sent Monday to the Texas Workforce Commission. The act federally mandates employers to give local governments notice of major layoffs.
The notice, which was submitted by Rooster Teeth owner Warner Bros. Discovery, said the employees would be laid off between May 11 and July 13. The cuts affect a range of positions, including executives, managers, directors, writers, editors, producers and engineers.
The company produced web-based video including the web series “Red vs. Blue” and had gained more than 45 million YouTube subscribers, and 1.2 million unique visitors across its apps during its 21 years, according to its website.
General Manager Jordan Levin announced the shutdown in a memo, and at an all-hands meeting last Wednesday. The memo was also posted to the company’s website.
“It’s with a heavy heart I announce that Rooster Teeth is shutting down due to challenges facing digital media resulting from fundamental shifts in consumer behavior and monetization across platforms, advertising, and patronage,” Levin said in the memo.
The company has its Austin headquarters and has Los Angeles based production staff.
The Austin-born company, which was started in the house of one of its founders in 2003, had a series of owners in recent years, and it was most recently acquired by Warner Bros. Discovery, then-Warner Media, in 2019. That year the company cut about 13% of its several hundred person staff.
The memo said the company would wind down in the coming days and weeks, and that the company would share updates about programming,
“Monetization shifts, platform algorithms, advertising challenges and the ebb and flow of patronage – all these ... factors have led to many closures in the industry.”
Jordan Levin General manager in announcement memo
shows, franchises, merchandise and partnerships day-by-day internally and on the company’s website.
The company’s Roost podcast network was not affected by the shutdown and would continue operating as Warner Bros. Discovery “evaluates outside interest,” the memo said. It also noted the studio would have a final season of “Red vs. Blue.”
Warner Bros. Discovery did not cite a reason. Levin said in the memo that Rooster Teeth’s closure “reflects broader business dynamics.”
“Monetization shifts, platform algorithms, advertising challenges and the ebb and flow of patronage – all these converging factors have led to many closures in the industry,” the memo said.
The layoffs come amid several years of wider layoffs in the media and technology industries.
While it has been hard to track just how large an impact Austin has seen, industry experts have said it’s certain that Central Texas workers have been affected by national tech layoffs. But many companies have not disclosed Austin-specific numbers or filed WARN notices. In recent weeks, Austin has seen cuts at both Austin-based Bumble, which laid off 350 people nationally, and Expedia, which cut dozens in Austin as part of a national layoff.