Moonbug is closing producer One Animation less than two years after acquiring Oddbods studio
Less than two years after purchasing Southeast Asian studio One Animation, Moongbug has closed the company’s offices in Singapore and Jakarta.
One Animation launched in 2008 and is best known for producing the three-time Emmy nominated series Oddbods, a dialogue-free comedy show for children that has aired in more than 180 countries. The show’s main YouTube channel has 10.6 million followers and more than 8 billion views. Other titles the studio has worked on include Sharkdog and Netflix’s Sharkdog Oddbods Called a spin-off series Minibods.
Moonbug wants to keep Oddbods And Minibods in the market, with the branches in Singapore concentrating on expanding franchises. A fourth, albeit much shorter, season of Oddbods will debut later this month.
A Moonbug spokesperson confirmed the shutdown Cartoon concoction however, has not provided us with updated figures on how many employees were working at the studio at the time of closure. However, when Moonbug acquired One Animation in 2022, the studio employed 60 people at its Singapore location and another 50 in Jakarta.
According to the spokesperson, compensation and employment services were offered to workers who lost their jobs, but no further details were provided.
The spokesman explained the shutdown to us:
When Moonbug acquired One Animation in 2022, the company didn’t just acquire an incredible premium children’s franchise Oddbods, but also an incredible leadership team and production studio based in Singapore. At that time, production opportunities were not only supported Oddbods but also provided third-party animation services to other media companies. As always, the plan was to focus resources entirely on Moonbug’s own franchises, so we scaled back studio operations and discontinued third-party services. In keeping with the majority of Moonbug’s production pipeline, most animation is now outsourced. We are very grateful to the team for their valuable contributions
Those familiar with Moonbug’s operations know that the company handles pre- and post-production in-house and outsources animation services to third-party studios, which further explains the One Animation shutdown. This strategy also resulted in Moonbug being fired CoComelon workers last November.
Still, it’s worth noting that Moonbug, like many media companies, had a difficult 2023. The Blackstone-owned company fell about 30% short of its profit forecasts, as reported by Bloomberg.
