The Sony-KADOKAWA Deal Is Done: Here Are the Details

After weeks of rumors, on December 18, 2024, Sony and KADOKAWA have announced the signing of their deal, which sees Sony acquiring 10% of KADOKAWA's shares. The deal, which will be effective on January 7, 2025, will result in Sony becoming KADOKAWA's largest shareholder, acquiring 12,054,100 new KADOKAWA shares for approximately 50 billion yen.

The two companies have worked together on several projects in the past, and this new "capital and business alliance" will strengthen their cooperation, with the purpose of maximizing the value of both company's IP's in the international market. While live-action movies and games will benefit from this, it's clear that the main focus of this new venture will be anime.

Sony Is Now KADOKAWA's Majority Shareholder

This Deal Will Change the Anime Landscape

Both Sony and KADOKAWA are already important players in the anime media landscape, and this deal will surely shake things up. According to the press release, the deal will result in "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's library of manga, anime, and light novels is incredibly rich, and Sony's resources will help bring these products to as vast an audience as possible. According to Takeshi Natsuno, CEO of KADOKAWA:

"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. We are confident that this will greatly contribute to maximizing 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."

Sony is already an important player in the anime world. It owns the production studio Aniplex and also Crunchyroll, perhaps the most important anime distribution and streaming platform in the world. According to Hiroki Totoki, President, COO and CFO of Sony Group Corporation:

"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. 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 realize KADOKAWA's 'Global Media Mix' strategy, aimed at maximizing the value of its IP, and Sony's long-term vision, 'Creative Entertainment Vision.'"

Some fans have already called this deal the beginning of a monopoly, as now the Sony-KADOKAWA conglomerate will own IP's, production, distribution, and even media outlets (Anime News Network is owned by KADOKAWA). It will be interesting to see what actual impact this will have on the anime world, but this deal will surely be remembered as a historical moment.

Source: Sony Group press release