Funko Pop! collectors know that the figurine trade is a daily volley of supply and demand. One day you have a Pop! worth $100 dollars and the next it’s worth $50. But that’s the name of the game in the trading market. As far as the corporate realm, that could spell disaster and unfortunately, Funko has been flatlining since their 2022 fourth quarter. According to CNN that means the company is literally going to trash about $30 million of product.
At the end of 2022 Funko had a surplus of merch that was worth about $246.4 million. Last year they only had half of that. That means it’s costing the company more to store the collectibles than what they are all worth.
In order to cut down on the cost, they are going to “eliminate” the excess early this year, “to reduce fulfillment costs by managing inventory levels to align with the operating capacity of our distribution center,” Funko said in a statement Wednesday. “This is expected to result in a write down in the first half of 2023 of approximately $30 to $36 million.”
In the latter part of February, investors got a call from Funko CEO Brian Mariotti. He said that the Arizona distribution center was so overstocked that he had to rent out additional storage units in order to accommodate the collectibles. The company also is reportedly reducing its workforce by 10 percent.
It wasn’t long ago when Funko was actually in the green. During the pandemic, the collectible trade was in high gear. In fact, the company made $1 billion in 2021. Compare that to the $47 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, and you can see the trouble they are in.
Funko has been struggling to gain more points on the stock market. They took a big hit last November and are still working to right themselves. Hopefully, their new clothing line and other accessories will boost sales beyond that of what the vinyl figurines bring in.
