It’s crunch time for Cookie Jar Entertainment as it gets set to eliminate jobs at recently acquired DIC Entertainment.

Cookie Jar will announce the number of merger-mandated layoffs as part of an ‘integration plan’ to be made known to around 220 current employees at the U.S. global brand management company by Aug. 26, Cookie Jar CEO Michael Hirsh said Tuesday.

The jobs most vulnerable are in corporate administration at DIC’s Burbank, CA headquarters, as Cookie Jar looks to remove duplication and overlap where possible.

Cookie Jar recently closed the deal to acquire DIC for US$87.6 million and become an indie animation giant.

The cutbacks come despite impressive potential for the newly merged DIC/Cookie Jar entity, Hirsh argued.

‘We bought DIC to build on the considerable strengths of the company, which includes a highly talented team. But at the same time, the former DIC employees knew the company was not viable in its current state,’ he said.

DIC founder Andy Heyward will remain with DIC/Cookie Jar as part of a new employment contract, Hirsh said.

The deal for DIC includes a one-third stake in KidsCo, an international kids television channel jointly owned by NBC Universal and Corus Entertainment, and now managed by former CHUM executive Roma Khanna of NBC Universal’s Global Networks division in London.