Japan – Globale entertainment giants Sony and Kadokawa have signed a strategic capital and business alliance agreement, agreeing to conduct a third-party allotment by Kadokawa to Sony on January 7, 2025, with Sony acquiring 12,054,100 new Kadokawa shares for approximately 50 billion yen. 

With the acquisition of the new shares, Sony will become Kadokawa’s largest shareholder, holding approximately 10% of its shares, including the shares Sony previously acquired in February 2021.

This officially confirms previous media reports related to Sony being interested in acquiring the entertainment giant, which specialises in Japanese media and entertainment offerings.

According to both parties, they intend to further strengthen their collaboration to maximise both companies’ IP value globally and facilitate wider and deeper collaboration, such as potential joint investments in the content field, joint discovery of new creators, and joint promotion of further media mixes of both companies’ IP. 

In the future, the two companies plan to discuss specific initiatives for collaboration, such as 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.

Takeshi Natsuno, chief executive officer at Kadokawa said, “We are very pleased to conclude this capital and business alliance agreement with Sony. This alliance is expected to not only further strengthen our IP creation capabilities, but also increase our IP media mix options with Sony’s support for global expansion, allowing us to deliver our IP to more users around the world.”

He added, “We are confident that this will greatly contribute to maximising the value of our IP and increasing our corporate value in the mid- to long-term. We intend to do our utmost to ensure that our collaborative efforts with Sony produce great results in the global market.”

Meanwhile, Hiroki Totoki, president, COO and CFO at Sony Group, commented, “Through this capital and business alliance, we will become the largest shareholder of Kadokawa, which consistently creates a wide variety of IP, including publications and books, such as light novels and comics, as well as games and anime.”

He added, “By combining Kadokawa’s extensive IP and IP creation ecosystem with the strengths of Sony, which has promoted the global expansion of a wide range of entertainment, including anime and games, we plan to work closely together to realise Kadokawa’s ‘Global Media Mix’ strategy, aimed at maximising the value of its IP, and Sony’s long-term vision, ‘Creative Entertainment Vision.’”

Singapore – Sony Group is reportedly in talks to buy Kadokawa, the Japanese media conglomerate giant, according to a recent report from Reuters. In it, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed ongoing talks between the two parties.

The report also notes that should the talks be successful, a deal can be signed in the coming weeks.

Should the deal proceed, this will make Sony the handler of a large chunk of Japanese media offerings on a global scale, which encompasses physical and digital publications, game development, animation studios, as well as other related overseas subsidiaries and owned entities.

In 2021, Sony’s anime distribution service Funimation completed the acquisition of fellow anime streaming service Crunchyroll from global telco network AT&T for a disclosed amount of US$1.175b.

Since then, the company has expanded its reach to more markets globally, including in Asia-Pacific. Earlier this year, Crunchyroll made its move in Indonesia to launch a localised campaign to celebrate more localised content for Indonesian anime fans.

In a recent exclusive interview with MARKETECH APAC, Akshat Sahu, senior director of marketing for APAC at Crunchyroll stated then that the platform’s expansion is in response to growing appetite for anime content in region–albeit to increasing competition from other streaming platforms–local and international.

“We’re ramping up our expansion to meet this demand by bringing fans closer to the anime they love. Our aim is to create a localised experience that caters to the unique cultural and consumption preferences of each market. By expanding further into Southeast Asia, we aim to provide fans with seamless access to an extensive collection of anime and introduce them to new and exciting titles at the same time as they stream in Japan,” he said.