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NEWS: Sony Becomes Largest Shareholder in Kadokawa in January


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Juno016



Joined: 09 Jan 2012
Posts: 2432
PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 5:46 am Reply with quote
I am not an economics gal. People were worried about what might happen if Sony aquired Kadokawa, and I get that this is a partnership (possibly to prevent a Korean company from buying too many shares?), so... is this outcome something to celebrate? Dread? Complicated and nuanced? Help me understand, please. DX
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Glordit



Joined: 11 Sep 2020
Posts: 685
PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 5:47 am Reply with quote
So, Sony technically owns the most shares thus making them the biggest investor.

Kadokawa agreed to the terms, so people can't be mad at Sony. This was also probably done to keep Kadokawa a domestic company.
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Erufailon4



Joined: 18 Jun 2019
Posts: 202
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 6:18 am Reply with quote
I can already imagine the clickbait thumbnails because people don't understand what "largest shareholder" means. (In this case, it means 10% ownership.) But this is the best case scenario for everyone who (for good or bad reasons) was worried about Kadokawa becoming a subsidiary of Sony.

It's still probably going to be an internal dynamic shift though, especially after such a rough year for Kadokawa.
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Kiwi93



Joined: 08 Dec 2022
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 8:06 am Reply with quote
Glordit wrote:
So, Sony technically owns the most shares thus making them the biggest investor.

Kadokawa agreed to the terms, so people can't be mad at Sony. This was also probably done to keep Kadokawa a domestic company.


Yea I get that people don’t like Sony (and for good reasons) but some are acting like Sony forced Kadokawa into this when it seems this is what Kadokawa wanted.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 8:09 am Reply with quote
Hope Sony has more success with Kadokawa than they did Kraven. Laughing
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Riku157



Joined: 27 Jun 2022
Posts: 17
PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 8:58 am Reply with quote
So not a 50.1% holder like people were speculating, but just a 10.02% holder. It along with the partnership still matter, but just not as much as people were making it seem.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 9:26 am Reply with quote
My question is: Will this effect ANN overall? Will ANN stay the same, or is Sony going to ask ANN to make some changes (ie: changes in the editorial, or close down ANN forum (I better hope not))?
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Riku157



Joined: 27 Jun 2022
Posts: 17
PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 9:48 am Reply with quote
mdo7 wrote:
My question is: Will this effect ANN overall? Will ANN stay the same, or is Sony going to ask ANN to make some changes (ie: changes in the editorial, or close down ANN forum (I better hope not))?


Sony doesn't own Kadokawa. They own 10% of them come January. That would not enable anyone to make changes by themselves. Any changes would require support from other owners too.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 10:43 am Reply with quote
Riku157 wrote:

Sony doesn't own Kadokawa. They own 10% of them come January. That would not enable anyone to make changes by themselves. Any changes would require support from other owners too.


I know, but I want to hear that from ANN's editor, Tempest. Even if Sony doesn't own Kadokawa, but that doesn't mean that they made a negotiation behind door regarding what they want to do to Kadokawa's subsidary and other thing. That's why I asked if this will effect ANN in anyway. I want to hear the answer from ANN's editor team before I can breath a sigh of relief.
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#ChewyBike



Joined: 09 Oct 2024
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 11:00 am Reply with quote
Probably the least worst outcome. No mass layoffs that come with acquisitions and Sony corpos don't have any direct power over the real people at Kadokawa who actually work for a living.

As for what I think of their stated goals

Quote:
initiatives to adapt KADOKAWA's IP into live-action films and TV dramas globally

I don't want anything to do with that.
Quote:
co-produce anime works

I guess collusion is a step up from monopoly.
Quote:
expand global distribution of KADOKAWA's anime works through the Sony Group

Yay, let's take anime away from platforms which translate into Chinese and put it on Crunchyroll instead.
Quote:
further expand publishing of KADOKAWA's games

I don't play video games, but that doesn't sound bad.
Quote:
develop human resources to promote and expand virtual production

I don't understand what this means.
Quote:
distribution of [Kadokawa's] publications, including manga, as e-books by the Sony Group

It would be nice to have more of Kadokawa's stuff translated, I can read books in english fine.
Quote:
"creating, developing, and acquiring new IP." and "enhancement of global IP distribution"

I'm pretty sure that's what Kadokawa does now.
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 11:30 am Reply with quote
mdo7 wrote:
Riku157 wrote:

Sony doesn't own Kadokawa. They own 10% of them come January. That would not enable anyone to make changes by themselves. Any changes would require support from other owners too.


I know, but I want to hear that from ANN's editor, Tempest. Even if Sony doesn't own Kadokawa, but that doesn't mean that they made a negotiation behind door regarding what they want to do to Kadokawa's subsidary and other thing. That's why I asked if this will effect ANN in anyway. I want to hear the answer from ANN's editor team before I can breath a sigh of relief.

I'm guessing you're not going to get an answer for at least a little bit.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4660
PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 11:50 am Reply with quote
Erufailon4 wrote:
I can already imagine the clickbait thumbnails because people don't understand what "largest shareholder" means. (In this case, it means 10% ownership.) But this is the best case scenario for everyone who (for good or bad reasons) was worried about Kadokawa becoming a subsidiary of Sony.

It's still probably going to be an internal dynamic shift though, especially after such a rough year for Kadokawa.


Yeah, it's definitely a lot different from the worry that Sony would own/control the company. Looking at the breakdowns of the ownership, and the wording around it, it comes off like Kadokawa was more worried about a different investor, and this sale is meant to address that . That bit about determining that Sony will technically be the largest shareholder, even though two other companies own more shares, sure sounds like there was a very specific goal here, and the minimum needed to achieve it happened.

Being a 10% shareholder means that Sony can't do much without the majority of the other investors being ok with it. I could see some behind the scenes changes that aren't readily identifiable to the rest of us happening, but probably not much beyond that.


Last edited by Greed1914 on Thu Dec 19, 2024 12:10 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5513
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 11:58 am Reply with quote
I guess going forward all Kadokawa anime will go to Crunchyroll. If Oshi no Ko and Made in Abyss change hands I hope Crunchyroll keeps the same English dub casts and releases them on BD.
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Glordit



Joined: 11 Sep 2020
Posts: 685
PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 12:33 pm Reply with quote
Angel M Cazares wrote:
I guess going forward all Kadokawa anime will go to Crunchyroll. If Oshi no Ko and Made in Abyss change hands I hope Crunchyroll keeps the same English dub casts and releases them on BD.


Technically, Made in Abyss is on Crunchyroll, it was only for French Speaking territories, last time I checked. Same with 2.5D and DanMachi.


Last edited by Glordit on Fri Dec 20, 2024 1:40 am; edited 1 time in total
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Tempest
I Run this place.
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Joined: 29 Dec 2001
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2024 12:35 pm Reply with quote
Angel M Cazares wrote:
I guess going forward all Kadokawa anime will go to Crunchyroll. If Oshi no Ko and Made in Abyss change hands I hope Crunchyroll keeps the same English dub casts and releases them on BD.


I mean, this would have been a safe bet before this deal. CR is the 900 lb gorilla of the anime licensing/streaming world right now and almost everything from every studio goes to them.

But your reasoning isn't spot on. KAD is still a public company and Sony will only own 10%, KAD has a responsibility to its other shareholders as well as to production committee members to get the best $ for it's product.

You may or may not remember (it was a long time ago), but when Bandai owned 100% of Bandai Visual (Japanese anime studio that has now been merged with Sunrise) and 100% of Bandai Entertainment Inc (BEI) (A US based anime distributor), not every Bandai Visual anime went to BEI.
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