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4Kids to Sell Yu-Gi-Oh! Assets to Kidsco for US$10 Million (Updated)
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The North American anime distributor and licensor 4Kids Entertainment has sold the rights to its Yu-Gi-Oh!-related assets to Kidsco Media Ventures LLC. KidsCo is an affiliate of the Saban Capital Group, the investment firm whose subsidiaries own the Power Rangers franchise.
4Kids also acquired the international rights to the 52-episode anime-influenced Italian cartoon series Beastkeeper, which was produced by Mondo TV, Starbright, and Ponpoko Productions.
Documents filed to the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York last month had revealed that 4Kids had planned to sell what they described as "substantially all of [their] Yu-Gi-Oh!-related assets."
4Kids filed for bankruptcy last year shortly after a lawsuit was filed by TV Tokyo, Nihon Ad Systems, and ADK. The suit reached an "amicable" settlement earlier this year, with ADK and TV Tokyo paying US$8 million to 4Kids.
Source: ICv2
Update: 4Kids notified ANN on Tuesday that its pending sale of Yu-Gi-Oh! assets to Kidsco, an affiliate of Saban, has not yet been completed. Specifically, the Bankruptcy Court can still authorize other companies to enter competing bids, and the court has to approve any sale before it can proceed.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history