Cousens’ new position, described by the company as an interim role, comes as the president and COO of Acclaim’s North American division, Edmond Sanctis, announced his intention to resign on January 31. Acclaim last week announced major losses for the first quarter of its financial year, and pledged to revise its operations in order to return to profitability.
One of the first tasks facing Cousens in his new role will be the implementation of a 35 per cent reduction in annual operating costs at the publisher, part of the package of measures in the revised operating plan approved by the board of directors on Friday. The company also plans to reduce its global administrative headcount by around 35 per cent.
These measures are specifically aimed at bringing expenses in line with projected revenues, with company planning to fix its research and development costs at roughly 21 per cent of net revenues.
The financial reporting of the company is also to be changed, with the end of the fiscal year being moved to March 31 from its current date of August 31. In order to bring its current practices in line with this, the 2003 fiscal year will be curtailed, ending on March 31 2003. This is, according to a company statement, designed to bring reporting in line with the rest of the publishing and retail industry.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz
