Technicolor Group Starts Shutting Down Operations, Indian Employees' February Salary Not Paid

Moneylife Digital Team 28 February 2025

Economy & Nation

Technicolor group, the owner of Oscar-winning visual effects companies MPC and The Mill, and feature animation company Mikros Animation, has begun to shut down operations, threatening the jobs of thousands of artists worldwide, says a report from CG Channel. The report cites a memo sent to employees by Technicolor group chief executive officer (CEO) Caroline Parot about filing for recovery procedure in France. However, except for verbal communication, thousands of employees of Technicolor India are under immense distress and financial hardship due to the non-payment of salaries in February.

According to CG Channel, in a memo sent to employees on the weekend, the Technicolor group CEO wrote that due to the "inability to find new investors for the full Group", it had "filed for Court ‘recovery procedure’ before the French Court of Justice".

"Its UK business went into administration on Monday, with 'the majority' of its roughly 440 employees reported to have been made redundant. Technicolor Group is also reported to have sent US employees the WARN Act notice required by law for large companies ahead of planned closures and mass layoffs," the report says.

In a memo sent to staff, the text of which has been shared on Reddit, Ms Parot attributed the group's financial problems to a "difficult operational situation resulting from post-covid recovery, [and] a costly and complex separation from the previous group followed by the writers' strike leading to a slowdown in customer orders".

Back home, there are thousands of employees working in Technicolour group and parent company offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru. According to people close to these developments, these employees have been verbally informed that the company is preparing to shut down its operations. However, they have received no formal, written confirmation of this decision. Crucially, the company has made no provision for the current month's outstanding salaries nor their full and final settlements (FNF).

One of the employees, who does not want to be named, says, "We have not received any formal confirmation from the company about the shutdown, but the verbal communication in India Townhall from management and the sudden halt in salary payments have left us worried."

Moneylife emailed Biren Ghose, managing director (MD) for Asia Pacific for Technicolor. We will update this article as and when we receive a reply from Technicolor.

Meanwhile, according to a report from Indiantelevision.com, Mr Ghose reportedly revealed that he and other senior local leadership had been entirely blindsided by the decision, learning of it only when they received an unexpected email from the company's global CEO.

"In what appeared to be an attempt to distance himself from responsibility, Mr Ghose revealed that despite what he characterised as persistent, diligent and increasingly urgent requests to corporate headquarters for operating funds over a period of several months, the parent company has categorically refused to release any money to the Indian operation," the report says.

"Unless headquarters releases these funds, we will not be in a position to pay salaries or other dues which are quite significant across the company in India," he reportedly said. "We have all been impacted by this like everyone else on this call."

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