News

NTV Buys 54.3% Stake in Anime Studio Tatsunoko Production

The financial news source Nikkei reported on Wednesday that Nippon TV Holdings is aiming to acquire the anime studio Tatsunoko Production, a Takara-Tomy Group company. Nikkei projects that the acquisition price will be several hundred million yen (several million US dollars). It also reports that Nippon TV Holdings is looking to diversify its production of entertainment content and expand its anime programming.

Tatsunoko became a subsidiary of the Japanese toy conglomerate Takara-Tomy in 2005-2006. Anime studio Production I.G acquired a 11.2% stake in Tatsunoko in 2010. (IG Port is the parent company of Production I.G, Xebec, Mag Garden, and the relatively new Wit Studio.) Entertainment talent agency HoriPro acquired a 13.5% stake last February.

Takara-Tomy currently still retains a 74.3% stake in Tatsunoko, but Nikkei characterizes the toymaker's ability to create a synergy between its main business and its anime production as "limited." Takara-Tomy recorded a net loss of 7.097 billion yen (about US$70 million) in the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2013.

Tatsunoko Production was established in 1962, and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012 with the Ippatsu Hicchū!! Devander anime. It holds the rights to Gatchaman, Speed Racer, the Time Bokan franchise, The Adventures of Hutch the Honeybee, and other anime titles popular in Japan and overseas.

Nippon TV Holdings' group companies already includes the anime studio Madhouse. Its NTV television network has long been a partner of Studio Ghibli, and its Mamma Aiuto Inc. and The Tokuma Memorial Cultural Foundation for Animation are involved in the operation of the Ghibli Museum.

[Via Yaraon!]

Update: Production I.G, not IG Port, acquired the 11.2% stake in Tatsunoko Production. Thanks, molibdaenum

Update 2: NTV officially announced that it will make Tatsunoko Production its subsidiary. NTV will purchase a 54.3% stake, and Takara-Tomy will retain a 20% stake. Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web