Sony Group Company has introduced a strategic capital and enterprise alliance with Kadokawa Company, securing 12,054,100 new Kadokawa shares via a third-party allotment scheduled for January 7, 2025.
This acquisition, valued at roughly 50 billion yen (roughly USD 320 million), will make Sony Kadokawa’s largest shareholder, with roughly 10% of the shares, together with these beforehand acquired in February 2021.
The settlement goals to strengthen world cooperation within the creation and distribution of mental property (IP).
The alliance follows Sony’s October 2024 proposal and discussions with Kadokawa that led to an settlement.
Sony confirmed that it doesn’t plan to accumulate any extra shares past this transaction. The deal is just not anticipated to have a major impression on Sony’s consolidated monetary outcomes for the fiscal 12 months ended March 31, 2025.
Each corporations emphasised their intention to maximise the worth of IP via collaboration. Takeshi Natsuno, CEO of Kadokawa, acknowledged that the alliance would strengthen Kadokawa’s world mental property creation capabilities and media combine, and contribute to long-term enterprise progress.
“We’re more than happy to conclude this capital and enterprise alliance settlement with Sony. This alliance is predicted to not solely additional strengthen our IP creation capabilities, but additionally enhance our IP media combine choices with Sony’s help for world growth, permitting us to ship our IP to extra customers all over the world. We consider this can contribute tremendously to maximizing the worth of our mental property and rising our enterprise worth within the medium to long run. We intend to do our utmost to make sure that our partnership with Sony delivers nice leads to the worldwide market.”
Sony COO Hiroki Totoki highlighted Kadokawa’s intensive portfolio of publications, video games and anime as key belongings that align with Sony’s world leisure imaginative and prescient.
“Via this capital and enterprise alliance, we’ll turn out to be the most important shareholder of KADOKAWA, which persistently creates all kinds of mental property, together with publications and books, similar to mild novels and comics, in addition to video games and anime. By combining KADOKAWA’s intensive IP and IP creation ecosystem with Sony’s strengths, which has fostered the worldwide growth of a variety of leisure together with anime and video games, we plan to work carefully to construct KADOKAWA’s Sony’s ‘World Media Combine’ technique, geared toward maximizing the worth of its mental property, and Sony’s long-term imaginative and prescient, ‘Inventive Leisure Imaginative and prescient’.
The partnership contains plans to adapt Kadokawa’s IP into live-action movies and TV dramas, co-produce anime works and develop world distribution of Kadokawa’s anime and video games. The businesses additionally intention to collectively develop human sources and digital manufacturing capabilities.
Worker sentiment and enterprise dynamics
Rumors about Sony’s takeover have been quashed earlier in November this 12 months.
Inside Kadokawa, the potential takeover is apparent had evoked combined reactions. Whereas issues in regards to the potential lack of company independence stay amongst analysts and the general public, sentiment amongst workers seems to be extra favorable.
Studies point out that there’s nice pleasure over the merger of Sony and Kadokawa’s anime manufacturing frameworks, with some workers expressing optimism about organizational adjustments beneath Sony’s affect.
A senior aide famous to Bunshun that dissatisfaction with the present authorities, particularly President Takeshi Natsuno, has fueled hopes for a management overhaul. Natsuno’s dealing with of a ransomware cyberattack earlier this 12 months, which compromised private information of workers and customers, was criticized for its lackluster response.
The prospect of Sony taking on has raised expectations for higher governance and operational adjustments.
Kadokawa and Sony have collaborated on a number of tasks up to now. This partnership builds on their historical past, with future plans together with joint content material investments, discovery of latest creators and media combine expansions.
Sony’s involvement is predicted to strengthen Kadokawa’s ‘World Media Combine’ technique, consistent with Sony’s long-term inventive leisure targets.
Supply: Sony’s official press launch
