Investing.com-- Anycolor Inc (TYO:5032), the Japanese media agency behind the second biggest virtual YouTuber (VTuber) agency Nijisanji, saw its share price sink more than 5% on Wednesday, after one of its “first generation” stars announced a year-long hiatus.
Wednesday’s losses came after VTuber “Moira,” who was one of the first VTubers signed on by Nijisanji, said in a social media post that she was taking a year-long hiatus. Moira- who has nearly 150,000 subscribers on YouTube, did not provide any reasons for her hiatus.
But her hiatus comes just a month after Nijisanji terminated the contract of english language VTuber “Selen Tatsuki,” who was one of the group’s most popular streamers.
Tatsuki’s YouTube channel, while still up, had all of its videos taken down after her termination. At its peak, the channel had nearly 800,000 subscribers.
VTuber controversies hurt Anycolor shares
Tatsuki had leveled allegations of bullying against Nijisanji, and had also accused the agency of fostering a toxic working environment. Her termination also came after a string of other high-profile exits through 2023, and added to the growing criticism of Anycolor, specifically Nijisanji, over how it treats its talent.
Fans of its VTubers have accused the company of mistreating its rising talent and stymieing its potential for growth. The company had also controversially scuttled its South Korean, Indian and Indonesian agencies over the past year.
While the company said the financial impact of Tatsuki’s exit would be minimal, Anycolor’s stock had slumped as much as 20% after her termination in February. The stock then saw some recovery in early-March, before Wednesday’s losses put it back on track towards its February lows.
Anycolor saw extended losses on Thursday, with the stock also seeing increased volatility before the release of its December-quarter earnings.
The company has been struggling to expand outside its Japanese market, with Tatsuki’s termination only exacerbating a decline in its English language channel.
VTubers- a niche but rapidly expanding business
VTubers are content creators that use virtual avatars, usually through the use of motion capture technology or animation software, to livestream or create content on video streaming platforms, usually Twitch or YouTube.
While still a largely niche sector, the trend has seen exponential growth in popularity and valuation over the past six years.
Anycolor, which listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in early-2022, hit a peak valuation of about $2.5 billion later that year, making founder and CEO Riku Tazumi the world’s youngest billionaire.
Collectively, Nijisanji’s VTubers have over 60 million followers on Youtube.
Nijisanji is the second-largest VTuber agency, behind Hololive, which is owned and operated by COVER Corp (TYO:5253). Hololive has more than 83 million followers among its VTubers, and is also the backer of Gawr Gura- the world’s most popular VTuber with over 4 million YouTube followers.
Still, weakness in Anycolor shares spilled over into Cover, with the stock trading 1% lower on Thursday after sliding nearly 3% in the prior session.