IDW Entertainment President David Ozer Steps Down

David Ozer

IDW Entertainment President David Ozer has stepped down from the organization to pursue becoming an independent producer.

The news came from Kerry McCluggage, CEO of IDW Media Holdings.

“David has been with IDW Entertainment from the beginning and, along with his team, helped build IDW Entertainment into a thriving independent production company and we wish him well in his future endeavors,” said McCluggage.  “We look forward to building on the solid foundation of our entertainment division by developing and delivering even more quality productions to the television and film markets.”

Ozer was part of IDW Entertainment since it launched in 2013. Ozer helped deliver three seasons of [easyazon_link identifier=”163140749X” locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Wynonna Earp[/easyazon_link] and secured deals with Netflix for Locke and Key and V-Wars.

“This was a difficult decision to make, as I am extremely proud of what we have achieved with IDW Entertainment, but also incredibly excited by the opportunities in the independent producing market today,” commented Ozer.

Ozer is the latest in a number of executive at IDW to exit from the company. In July, IDW Media Holdings CEO and co-founder Ted Adams took a leave of absence with McCluggage replacing him. Adams had previously been the IDW Publisher, but made the transition to CEO last November.

IDW Publishing’s Editor-in-Chief and former Chief Creative Officer Chris Ryall also stepped down from the company in March of this year. He had been with the company for 14 years.

According to The Outhousers, there have been a number of staff leaving the company including “in positions such as graphic design, accounting, editing, and public relations.”

This departure also comes after IDW saw a significant decline in revenue in fiscal year 2017. According to Publishers Weekly, “Revenue at IDW Publishing fell 12.1% in the fiscal year ended October 31, 2017, compared to fiscal 2016.”

Total sales for the publishing arm were down to $24.5 million, down from $27.9 million. IDW blamed “a cyclically slow period in the comic book specialty market” and their transition to Penguin Random House for distribution for the decline.

However, IDW Entertainment did see a slight increase in revenue for fiscal 2017. It rose from $16 million to $16.2 million.

Total revenue at IDW fell 7.5% to $60.4 million. The company also suffered a net loss of $797,000 compared to $3.7 million in earnings in fiscal 2016.

With the amount of top executives leaving IDW in the past year, could the company be in big trouble?

 

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