Sony Becomes Kadokawa's Largest Shareholder as a \"Business Alliance\"

Sony Holds 10% Of Kadokawa Shares

Kadokawa Remains Independent

In the new alliance-agreement, Sony acquired around 12 million new shares for approximately 50 billion JPY. These shares, along with the ones previously acquired in February 2021, now give Sony about 10% of Kadokawa’s total shares. Earlier this year in November, it was reported through Reuters that Sony was aiming to acquire Kadokawa. However, this partnership allows Kadokawa to remain as an independent entity.

As stated in their press release, this strategic capital and business alliance agreement aims to strengthen ties between the companies in order to "maximize both companies’ IP value globally and facilitate wider and deeper collaboration" through joint investments and promotions, such as focusing on initiatives to bring live-action films and TV dramas of Kadokawa IPs globally, co-producing anime-related works, expanding Kadokawa’s reach by distributing and publishing their anime works and video game works globally through the Sony Group, and more.

"We are very pleased to conclude this capital and business alliance agreement with Sony. 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," said Takeshi Natsuno, Kadokawa Corporation’s CEO, adding that they are confident that this alliance will greatly contribute to the betterment of both companies in the global market.

Sony Group Corporation’s President, COO, and CFO, Hiroki Totoki, shared that "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.'"

Kadokawa, Rich In Notable IPs

Kadokawa Corporation is a Japanese conglomerate with a considerable presence in its home country, especially with its holdings in several multimedia sectors such as Japanese anime and manga publishing, movies, television, and even video game production. Most notably, it owns popular anime IPs like Oshi no Ko, Re:Zero, and Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon, and is also the parent company of Elden Ring and Armored Core developer FromSoftware.

FromSoftware has also just announced in The Game Awards that the series’ co-op standalone spin-off named Elden Ring: Nightreign is set to arrive in 2025.