News
BookWalker, Dwango, Kadokawa Connected to Merge With Dwango Becoming the Surviving Company
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
BookWalker Co., Ltd. stated in its announcement that although the operating company of the BookWalker e-book store and service will change, its services will continue with no changes.
Dwango stated the aim of merging the main digital businesses in the Kadokawa Group is to optimally allocate developmental resources and to optimize operations in order to further grow and expand the overall business.
Kadokawa founded BookWalker Co, Ltd. in December 2005, and Kadokawa launched the BookWalker e-book store service in 2010. Kadokawa then launched BookWalker Global as an English webstore and app in 2014. The global service has more than 50,000 licensed manga, light novels, and audiobooks in English on offer as of November 2024. BookWalker Global also releases some manga as simulpub releases.
ANN has reached out to BookWalker Global about the merger, but did not receive a response by press time.
BookWalker Co., Ltd. also operates the "Niconico Manga" service and the "Tokusho Meter" service. The company also develops and operates NTT Docomo's e-book platforms "d Magazine" and "d Book."
Kadokawa Connected (KDX) was founded in April 2019, and it focuses on information and communication technology, business consulting, system design, cloud services, and more. The company employed 228 people as of April 2024.
Media and telecommunications company Dwango was founded in 1997. Dwango is the corporate parent of the game company Spike Chunsoft, and it runs the Niconico video-sharing site.
Sources: BookWalker, Dwango via Hachima Kikō
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
