Apr 20, 2022

Crunchyroll CEO Colin Decker resigns.

Crunchyroll CEO Colin Decker has left the company, and longtime Funimation COO Rahul Prini will oversee the animation brand going forward.

The news of Decker's departure comes just six weeks after Crunchyroll's parent company, Sony, added Funimation's anime streaming catalog to its Crunchyroll service, merging the two anime platforms.

Keith Le Goy, Chairman of Worldwide Distribution and Networks at Sony Pictures Entertainment, broke the news of the reorganization to employees in a memo, stating:

Colin Decker, who has worked at Sony for over three years, decided to step down as CEO of Crunchyroll. Colin Decker has led the Funimation business to tremendous growth and has been instrumental in building great relationships with our partners at Aniplex. He also played a key role in the acquisition of Crunchyroll, successfully integrating the two businesses and unifying them under the Crunchyroll brand.

Decker joined Sony in 2019, when the company acquired Funimation. Last August, Sony also acquired Funimation's biggest competitor, Crunchyroll, from AT&T for $1.18 billion. And in March of this year, Sony combined the two brands and appointed Decker to head the combined group.

Purini, Crunchyroll's current COO and Funimation's COO before the merger, will succeed Decker, who will stay on for a few weeks to help with the transition.

In his announcement, Le Goi also gave a glowing review of the ongoing expansion of animation.

The animation business has never been stronger and continues to be an important part of the overall strategy of SPE and the Sony Group. It is a great time for the business and for the growing global anime fan community. We are seeing significant subscriber growth and look forward to bringing great new content to the service in the coming months. We are also very excited about the growth opportunities in manga, e-commerce, and mobile gaming. Not to mention the recent box office success of "Jutsu Kaiten 0," which grossed $34 million in the U.S., making it the fourth largest animated film in U.S. box office history.

Top image: "Fullmetal Alchemist: the series distributed by Crunchyroll.