Megan Ellison’s Annapurna, which scored a $51m global box office hit this year as producer of Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, has laid off approximately 30 staffers or close to 15% of the workforce.
A representative for the company said the redundancies are company-wide and reflected “business conditions”. They added, “Annapurna is an independent entertainment and media company operating in shifting market conditions and is realigning to meet the changing landscape.”
Those employees who are being let go are being “supported through the transition”. Reports said Annapurna employed around 190 people before Wednesday’s announced layoffs.
Annapurna launched in 2011 and swiftly gained a reputation as an angel backer of arthouse fare, some of which were budgeted to the order of tens of millions of dollars, including The Master, Zero Dark Thirty, and Vice.
Prior to the pandemic the company made an ill-fated foray into distribution and president of film Chelsea Barnard and president Marc Weinstock departed in 2018.
In 2019 it was reported that Ellison’s father, the Oracle co-founder and centibillionaire Larry Ellison, stepped in to shore up some $200m of debt that the company had defaulted on through a $350m credit facility. A year later reports emerged that Annapurna had made a small number of redundances impacting junior executives in film and television divisions.
Earlier this year the word around Hollywood was that Ellison was reviving the company’s film activities and that Barnard had returned to lead the film division alongside Matthew Budman. Besides The Invite, which A24 will push for awards this season, Annapurna produced Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters released in May through Neon.
Ellison is the sister of Paramount CEO David Ellison.
