- Sony has acquired new shares in FromSoftware owner Kadokawa, making it the company's largest shareholder
- Sony now owns 10% of shares, including the shares previously acquired in February 2021
- The two companies also plan to discuss new initiatives, such as ways to adapt Kadokawa IP in movies, TV shows, co-produce anime, and expand its games
Sony has announced it is now the majority shareholder of FromSoftware owner Kadokawa.
A new press release was shared today, December 19, to confirm that Sony and Kadokawa have officially signed a "strategic capital and business alliance agreement" after Sony acquired 12,054,100 new Kadokawa shares for approximately 50 billion yen, around $318.6 million / £252 million.
With the new shares, Sony is currently Kadokawa's largest shareholder, now holding approximately 10% of its shares, including the shares Sony acquired in February 2021.
Through this new capital and business alliance, the PlayStation owner said that it and Kadokawa "intend to further strengthen our collaboration to maximize both companies' IP value globally" as well as "facilitate wider and deeper collaboration, such as potential joint investments in the content field, joint discovery of new creators, and joint promotion of further media mixes of both companies' IP."
The two companies also plan to discuss new initiatives for collaboration, including ways to adapt Kadokawa's IP into live-action films and TV dramas globally, co-produce anime works, expand Kadokawa anime works through Sony, and further expand the company's games.
"We are very pleased to conclude this capital and business alliance agreement with Sony," said Takeshi Natsuno, Kadokawa's chief executive officer. "This alliance is expected to not only further strengthen our IP creation capabilities, but also increase our IP media mix options with Sony's support for global expansion, allowing us to deliver our IP to more users around the world.
"We are confident that this will greatly contribute to maximizing the value of our IP and increasing our corporate value in the mid- to long-term. We intend to do our utmost to ensure that our collaborative efforts with Sony produce great results in the global market."
Reports that Sony was looking to acquire the Japanese publishing company and owner of the Elden Ring developer surfaced last month, but it wasn't until last week that Sony confirmed it had "made an initial statement of intent".
Sony's president, COO, and CFO Hiroki Totoki also commented on the new shares acquisition, saying: "Through this capital and business alliance, we will become the largest shareholder of Kadokawa, which consistently creates a wide variety of IP, including publications and books, such as light novels and comics, as well as games and anime.
"By combining Kadokawa's extensive IP and IP creation ecosystem with the strengths of Sony, which has promoted the global expansion of a wide range of entertainment, including anime and games, we plan to work closely together to realize Kadokawa's 'Global Media Mix' strategy, aimed at maximizing the value of its IP, and Sony's long-term vision, 'Creative Entertainment Vision.'"
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