>>74783962This sounds like another plausible outgrowth of the "accelerate" model.
I suspect that the basic idea behind Riku's business model— provided that it's not simply a scam— is that vtuber popularity, and thus revenue, likely follows some kind of power law, dominated by a few megahits. How to get those megahits? Hire a ton of vtubers and hope some of them get popular! The capital cost per chuuba is likely small, so this isn't infeasible. This concept is also compatible with a "get big fast" strategy for growth: expand into foreign markets quickly, go public early, etc.
However, you need to keep operating costs low, which means spreading your managers thin and paying them peanuts. It also means offering your streamers a shitty contract, so that you can still make money even if you get a bunch of Finanas. And you're stuck with the question of how you retain your best talent, given that they could easily walk off for a better contract and more supportive management. We know Nijisanji tried to solve this one by adding punitive terms to its employment contract, but it might also have tried to get them into debt.
What we're seeing may be the "accelerate" concept blowing up in Riku's face. The thinly spread, incompetent management turned Nijisanji into a yab factory and repeatedly tanked their international ventures, and their attempts to prevent their talents from walking off have clearly failed with ID and EN. Going public has left them at the mercy of capital markets while their reputation in the English-speaking world craters.
Then again, it could all be a scam.
