Sony buy up KADOKAWA shares to become largest shareholder of the FromSoftware parent company

There it is, the deal has been announced. Sony and KADOKAWA have "signed a strategic capital and business alliance agreement" that will make Sony the largest shareholder. It's not done just yet though, as the deal is set to go through on January 7, 2025.

Sony will acquire 12,054,100 new KADOKAWA shares for "approximately 50 billion yen", this will bump up Sony to have about 10% total shares in KADOKAWA and make them the largest holder overall. This is a big deal for video games, Anime and Manga since Kadokawa control FromSoftware (ELDEN RING, ARMORED CORE), Spike Chunsoft (Danganronpa, DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO), ACQUIRE Corp. (OCTOPATH TRAVELER) and Gotcha Gotcha Games (RPG Maker) in addition to all their Anime and Manga publishing.

From the press release:

Comment from Takeshi Natsuno, Chief Executive Officer, KADOKAWA CORPORATION

"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. 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."

Comment from Hiroki Totoki, President, COO and CFO, Sony Group Corporation

"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.'"

See more in the press release.