Now that Power Rangers is owned by Hasbro, it seems layoffs and eventually, the full closure could be coming to Saban Brands.
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Saban Brands has become synonymous with the Power Rangers franchise, but that all changed (once again) earlier this year when it was announced that Hasbro would be the new owner of the Power Rangers brand. According to the Los Angeles Business Journal, the company has revealed it will lay off around 60 employees as a result.
The report also states that Saban Brands, which is based in Century City, will shut down completely as of July 2. The information stems from a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification letter sent to the state of California from Saban Brand’s lawyer Lawrence Stone, who works for the Jackson Lewis firm.
The layoffs will be across the board, going from creative to accounting, and it is expected that 51 of the 60 layoffs will happen on July 2nd. While Saban Brands is closing, their parent company Saban Capital Group will remain open for business.
This won’t affect the Power Rangers show, comics, or toys, but it will greatly affect the people who have been behind the brand since Saban purchased Power Rangers back from Disney in 2010, kickstarting the Neo Saban Era. This spawned Power Rangers Samurai, Super Samurai, Megaforce, Super Megaforce, Dino Charge, Dino Super Charge, Ninja Steel, and now Super Ninja Steel, which returns later this year.
We hope those affected will find work quickly, but Saban hasn’t released an official statement on the closing or layoff, so we’ll keep you posted.
The Power Rangers first Hasbro produced show will be Power Rangers Beast Morphers, which will hit in 2019, and Hasbro’s chairman and chief exective officer Brian Goldner is quite excited to add the brand to their catalog.
“Power Rangers is an iconic brand built on a heritage of great storytelling and merchandising with tremendous upside potential when fully executed across Hasbro’s Brand Blueprint,” said Brian Goldner, Hasbro’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Shortly after entering into our licensing arrangement, it became clear that now was the time to begin investing in unlocking Power Rangers’ full potential. We see significant opportunity for Power Rangers across our entire Brand Blueprint, including toys and games, consumer products, digital gaming and entertainment, as well as geographically throughout our global retail footprint. We couldn’t be more pleased that Haim Saban will continue in a consulting role to further guide our development of this valuable property for the next generation of Power Rangers fans.”
