Summary
- Sony has invested $318 million to acquire over 12 million shares of FromSoftware parent company Kadokawa.
- This will increase Sony’s ownership of Kadokawa to 10%, making it the media giant’s largest shareholder.
- Sony and Kadokawa have also formed an alliance to expand the latter’s IPs on a global scale.
Sony has made a $318 million investment deal to become the largest shareholder of Kadokawa Corporation, a Japanese media powerhouse and the parent company of illustrious developer FromSoftware. This major development concludes several weeks of reports surrounding a potential acquisition of Kadokawa by Sony, at least for now.
Exactly one month ago, news of Sony discussing a Kadokawa buyout unexpectedly broke and surprised gamers and industry analysts alike. It was claimed that Kadokawa’s prolific anime business was a key target for Sony, which already owns major anime streaming platforms Funimation and Crunchyroll. Kadokawa also owns a handful of well-known game studios, such as RPG Maker developer Gotcha Gotcha Games, Octopath Traveler developer Acquire, Danganronpa developer Spike Chunsoft, and, of course, Elden Ring developer FromSoftware.
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Many in the gaming space were split on Sony’s rumored acquisition of Kadokawa, with one side arguing that it made sense from a business perspective and the other staunchly opposing further industry consolidation. A month’s worth of speculation later, Sony has issued a press release that finally offers some clarity, confirming that it has officially invested 50 billion yen (over $318 million) to acquire more than 12 million new shares of Kadokawa stock. At 10% ownership, Sony will become Kadokawa’s largest shareholder effective January 7, 2025. This isn’t a full buyout of Kadokawa as the rumors alleged, but still a significant deal.
Sony and FromSoftware Parent Company Kadokawa’s Deal Explained
- Sony will invest 50 billion yen to acquire 12,054,100 Kadokawa shares
- Sony’s ownership of Kadokawa stock will increase to 10%
- Starting January 7, 2025, Sony will be Kadokawa’s largest shareholder
- Sony will help extend Kadokawa’s IPs to a global audience
- Sony may also lend a hand in publishing Kadokawa’s games
Alongside the acquisition of shares, Kadokawa and Sony have formed a “Strategic Capital and Business Alliance.” The motive behind this collaboration is to extend the global reach of Kadokawa’s massive roster of IPs. In addition to co-producing anime projects, Sony can leverage its established movie and TV subsidiaries by adapting Kadokawa’s IPs into live-action films and TV shows. Interestingly, the press release also mentions Sony further expanding the publishing of Kadokawa’s games, which will most likely involve the PlayStation division.
This news understandably comes as a relief to those who opposed the prospect of Sony initiating a Kadokawa buyout and gaining an exceptionally dominant position in the anime industry. Interestingly, it may also validate recent rumors alleging that Sony was discouraged by the high cost of acquiring Kadokawa, estimated to be roughly $4.3 billion or 675 billion yen. Regardless, it seems Sony is mostly interested in the multitude of IPs Kadokawa owns and can help the media giant broaden them to a global audience. Should this deal reap sizable returns for both companies in the long term, a full acquisition may not be off the table either.
