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TV Asahi to Own 100% of Doraemon's Shin-ei Animation
posted on by Egan Loo
The Japanese broadcasting network TV Asahi has announced on Wednesday that it will turn the Shin-ei Animation production company into a wholly owned subsidiary. Shin-ei Animation has been a consolidated subsidiary of TV Asahi since 2008, but the broadcaster will buy up the shares owned by Shin-ei chairperson Sankichirō Kusube so that Shin-ei will be 100% owned by TV Asahi.
Shin-ei is best known for animating Doraemon and Crayon Shin-chan (pictured at left); these two Friday evening programs are TV Asahi's highest rated anime titles, and they regularly rank within the top 10 animated television series every week. TV Asahi also runs Shin-ei's ATASHIn'CHI and the annual Sensō Dōwa (wartime fable) specials.
Sankichirō Kusube's late older brother Daikichirō Kusube founded Shin-ei in 1976, and Megumi Iwanaga presides over 73 employees as of this past July. Before today's announcement, TV Asahi already owned 144,000 shares or 90% of Shin-ei, while Sankichirō Kusube owned 16,000 or 10%. After the transaction is finished on October 15, TV Asahi will own all 160,000 shares. TV Asahi has not announced how much Kusube will receive for transferring his shares.
In the fiscal year which ended on March of 2010, Shin-ei reported 3.408 billion yen (about US$40.95 million) in revenue and 391 million yen (US$4.7 million) in profit.
Source: animeanime.biz
