Sony Pictures Entertainment revealed on Tuesday, April 20, 2022, that Crunchyroll’s chief executive officer Colin Decker has resigned from the company. Following Decker’s departure, Crunchyroll COO and former Funimation COO, Rahul Purini, will be the company’s new president.

Purini stated, “It is an honor and a privilege for me to take on this new role, and to drive the next chapter of Crunchyroll forward. Having spent the last seven years involved in nearly every facet of the business, and seeing how far we’ve come – the opportunity ahead is bright, and I look forward to what we will do together next. There are so many things that excite me about this new role, but the one part that stands out is our clear opportunity: to accelerate the growth, size, and love of anime around the world by putting fans and community first and by helping everyone belong.”

Purini led Crunchyroll’s strategic day-to-day operations, which included e-Commerce, production studios, content programming, business intelligence, analytics, and other sectors. Purini joined Funimation in 2015 and has been a driving force behind the company’s global expansion and subscription base expansion.

He was previously the vice president of solution delivery at Razorfish, a worldwide digital agency. He was also the director of MEplusYOU’s technology and operations (formerly imc2). Purini’s work at Pizza Hut, Procter & Gamble, and GlaxoSmithKline has earned him industry honours from Forrestor and Forbes.

Keith Le Goy, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s chairman of distribution and networks, confirmed the management move in a note to employees on Tuesday.

“After more than three years at Sony, Colin Decker has decided to step down from his role as CEO of Crunchyroll, having worked passionately and diligently to bring our anime business to the successful point it is today,” Le Goy wrote. “Colin led our Funimation business to an exponential level of growth and was instrumental in forging a great relationship with our partners at Aniplex. He championed and played a key role in our acquisition of Crunchyroll and has successfully led the integration of the two businesses, unifying them under the Crunchyroll brand.”

Colin Decker said to the company, “Working alongside you has been an honor, and a privilege. Because of your dedication, resilience, and belief, we have realized what seemed impossible just a few years ago.”

Le Goy stated that Decker will stay with the company for a few weeks during the transition.

On March 1, Funimation and Crunchyroll announced that the anime libraries and simulcast content of Funimation and Wakanim would be migrating to Crunchyroll. On Aug 9 of last year, Sony’s Funimation Global Group completed the acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T. The acquisition price was $1.17 billion, and the proceeds were paid in cash at the time of closing.

Source: Variety