Sony Becomes Largest Shareholder in Kadokawa in January

Sony and Kadokawa announced on Thursday that the two companies are forming a “strategic capital and business alliance” that will see Sony becoming Kadokawa‘s largest shareholder, holding approximately 10% of its shares, as of January 7. Sony will acquire 12,054,100 new Kadokawa shares for 49,976,298,600 yen (about US$318 million). Sony‘s holding of 10% of Kadokawa‘s shares includes shares Sony previously purchased in February 2021.

Sony‘s announcement states the two companies will discuss specific collaborative initiatives, including “initiatives to adapt KADOKAWA‘s IP into live-action films and TV dramas globally, co-produce anime works, expand global distribution of KADOKAWA‘s anime works through the Sony Group, further expand publishing of KADOKAWA‘s games, and develop human resources to promote and expand virtual production.”

Kadokawa additionally stated the alliance will provide “further expansion of the scope of [Kadokawa‘s] game publishing” and “distribution of [Kadokawa‘s] publications, including manga, as e-books by the Sony Group.”

Kadokawa stated it plans to use 20 billion yen from January 2025 to March 2030 for “creating, developing, and acquiring new IP.” The company plans to use the other 29.7 billion yen from January 2025 to March 2030 on “enhancement of global IP distribution.”

Currently, Kadokawa holds 129,000 shares of common stock in Sony, and Sony holds 2,844,950 shares of common stock in Kadokawa (which is 2.01% of shares).

After the change, Korea Security Depository – Samsung and The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Ltd. will technically hold more percentage of shares than Sony, however Kadokawa added that both are “trust business operators holding the shares as trust property, and so it has been determined that they do not constitute major shareholders or the largest major shareholder.”

The breakdown of shareholders in Kadokawa after January 7 as follows:

Reuters had reported in mid-November that Sony was in talks to acquire Kadokawa. After the report, both Kadokawa and Sony acknowledged the report, with Kadokawa stating at the time “no decision has been made at this time.”

Aniplex is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ). Animation studios A-1 Pictures and CloverWorks are subsidiaries of Aniplex.

Sony‘s Funimation Global Group completed its acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T on August 9, 2021, after the company first announced the acquisition in December 2020. The purchase price was US$1.175 billion, and the proceeds were paid in cash at closing. Funimation‘s home video releases are now listed under Crunchyroll. Crunchyroll reached over 15 million paid subscribers to the anime streaming service as of this year.

Sony announced in May that it will launch an academy to develop talent to create anime. The academy will aim to “[nurture] anime creators in global markets, mainly by Aniplex and Crunchyroll with collaboration from across the industry.”

Kadokawa acquired anime studio Doga Kobo in July. Kadokawa‘s anime studios now include Doga Kobo ENGI, Studio KADAN, Raging Bull, and the newly formed BELLNOX FILMS, as well as the affiliated companies Kinema Citrus and Studio Chizu.

Kadokawa was hit by a cyber attack that included ransomware on June 8. Its Dwango subsidiary’s Niconico video resumed some of its services on August 5, after the cyber attack.

Kadokawa‘s publishing companies include Kadokawa Key-Process (which handles the imprints ASCII Media Works, Enterbrain, Fujimi Shobo, and Media Factory), KADOKAWA Game Linkage (which publishes B’s-LOG, Comptiq, Dengeki Nintendo, and Weekly Famitsu), J-Novel Club, and Yen Press. Its game subsidiaries include Acquire, FromSoftware, Gotcha Gotcha Games, and Spike Chunsoft.

Sources: Sony, Kadokawa via AV Watch

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.