Animation studio “Moscow” filed an application for self-liquidation

Animation studio “Moscow” (part of the Riki Group of Companies) filed an application for self-liquidation. Ricky explains this step by “optimizing the corporate structure.” The team of the liquidated project will move to the Riki production center. Market participants believe that this will strengthen the production capacity of the developer of the Group of Companies in St. Petersburg. According to Kommersant, Riki needs structure optimization in order to redistribute costs to intensify work abroad.

The structure of the Riki Group of Companies (brands Fixiki, Smeshariki, etc.) – Animation Studio Moscow LLC – announced self-liquidation on February 14, as follows from SPARK-Interfax data. Svetlana Nikolaevna Dolgikh has been appointed liquidator, as follows from a message on Fedresurs.

The Riki Group of Companies clarified to Kommersant that the decision to liquidate the studio was made on February 5 in connection with “optimization of the corporate structure in order to expand the business.” In addition to the Moscow animation studio, the production and distribution of the series “Baby Babies” and “Tima and Tom” “were and will continue to be handled by the Petersburg studio and the production center “Riki”,” a representative of the organization specified. The full team of the Moscow studio will move to the Riki production center, they assured. Kommersant was unable to contact Ms. Dolgikh.

The Riki Group of Companies could decide to liquidate the division in Moscow, since the Aeroplan studio is already successfully operating in the capital (76% of the Riki Group of Companies), says Kommersant’s interlocutor in the animation market: “The transfer of the team to the Riki Group of Companies will allow to strengthen the production capacity of the Petersburg computer animation studio, located, like the company’s main development pool, in St. Petersburg.”

The Moscow studio was not widely known in the market, says Kommersant’s source in the industry. In the case of the Riki Group of Companies, which can be called one of the leaders in animation production in Russia, the liquidation of the studio is one of the side elements of the restructuring, he believes: “If the company had any problems, it would have already become known.”

As an example, Kommersant’s source cites the closure of the animation studio “Vverkh” in 2021. Then the project team announced the termination of work due to the box office failure of the Ogonyok-Ognivo project. According to the Film Distributor’s Bulletin as of March 23, the film’s box office in Russia amounted to only 21.7 million rubles. “The Riki projects do not have such problems,” says Kommersant’s interlocutor. Thus, the box office receipts of “Smeshariki are making a movie” amounted to 164.6 million rubles, as follows from the bookmaker’s data as of December 31, 2023.

The main activities of the Riki Group of Companies are the production and licensing of media projects in the field of animation, while AS Moscow has the production of films, videos and TV programs as its main activity, notes the manager of one of the studios, calling “refusal a less profitable direction is logical.” In his opinion, we are talking about redefining expenses within the group: “Riki Group has quite ambitious plans for this year to return to foreign markets, which also require a considerable amount of expenses on exported products.”

Yulia Yurasova