On Thursday, Sony made waves by officially declaring a new “strategic capital and business alliance” with FromSoftware parent company, Kadokawa, becoming the company’s largest shareholder.
KADOKAWA CORPORATION and Sony Group Corporation today signed a strategic capital and business alliance agreement which would allow the company that built the PlayStation to acquire 12,054,100 new KADOKAWA shares for approximately 50 billion yen. The transaction will be made official on January 7, 2025.
The acquisition of ~10% of the FromSoftware parent company is still a far way off from the previous reports that Sony would have liked to purchase the company outright, when it was already public knowledge the PlayStation company had already owned 2% of the stock in the Kadokawa company (and 16% of FromSoftware). This move also makes sense for both companies, as the last time reports have simmered regarding a strategic partnership between the two companies Kadokawa saw a stock increase of a massive 23% in November.
Chief Executive Officer of the KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Takeshi Natsuno said “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” regarding the strategic capital and business alliance.
President, COO and CFO of Sony Group Corporation, Hiroki Totoki agrees with Kadokawa and says “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'” about the new deal. The new deal is set to allow Sony access to adapt Kadokawa’s IP into live-action films and TV dramas on a global scale, co-produce anime, and expand global distribution of Kadokawa anime.
The KADOKAWA CORPORATION strategic capital and business alliance aims to take effect on January 7, 2025, and fans looking for more information can find it on the official website.
