Sony is reportedly in discussions to acquire Kadokawa Corporation, the Japanese media giant behind recent features by Takeshi Kitano and Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Sources say that if ongoing talks are successful, a deal could be signed within weeks, according to Reuters.
Sony has held a 1.93% stake in Kadokawa since 2021, when the two firms formed a capital alliance alongside digital advertising firm CyberAgent. Sony also owns a stake in FromSoftware, the Kadokawa subsidiary outfit behind hit video games such as Elden Ring.
Kadokawa was founded in 1945 as a publisher and is known in the film business for Kadokawa Daiei Studio, which was launched in 1975 by the company’s former president Haruki Kadokawa.
The studio became known in the 1980s for big-budget hits such as Kinji Fukasaku’s Virus and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s The Little Girl Who Conquered Time as well as in the 1990s for the horror smash Ringu, remade in the US as The Ring in 2002.
Recent films under the Kadokawa banner include Takeshi Kitano’s Kubi, which premiered at Cannes in 2023, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Serpent’s Path, which was co-produced with Cinefrance and Tarantula and played at this year’s San Sebastian and Busan.
In July, Kadokawa acquired anime studio Doga Kobo, which is behind popular property Oshi No Ko, for $20m (¥3bn).
In 2022, Kadokawa chairman Tsuguhiko Kadokawa resigned after being indicted on bribery charges related to the Tokyo Olympic Games. Kadokawa pled not guilty last month. Earlier this year, the company was hit by a ransomware attack which resulted in a data leak.
Sony’s IP businesses include anime distributors Aniplex and Crunchyroll, the latter of which it acquired in 2021. In 2023, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida indicated that the corporation would continue to invest in IP for “sustainable growth”.
Both Sony and Kadokawa have yet to comment.
The Streaming Wars is intentionally ad-free
We don’t run display ads. Not because we can’t, but because we don’t believe in them.
They interrupt the reading experience. They cheapen the work. And they burn advertisers’ money on impressions nobody actually wants.
So we chose a different model.
We say the things people in this industry are already thinking but don’t say out loud. We connect the dots beyond the headline and focus on explaining why things matter to the people working in this business.
If you believe industry coverage can exist without clutter and interruption, you can support it here → SUPPORT TSW.
Support is optional. But it directly funds research and continued coverage — and helps prove this model can work.
Support TSW →
