The Sony group announced this Thursday, December 19, a new stake in Kadokawa, in which it had already been involved since February 2021. Through the purchase of 12 million shares, for 50 billion yen, or 300 million € approximately, the multinational now holds 10% of the capital of Kadokawa, thus becoming its main shareholder.
« Kadokawa and Sony have collaborated, in the past, on various projects and, through this capital and business alliance, intend to strengthen this collaboration in order to maximize the value of the intellectual property of both companies at the level global» indicates Sony in a press release.
This investment by Sony in Kadokawa would thus support priority exchanges in terms of licenses and adaptations, the press release citing “ initiatives to license Kadokawa into live-action films and series, co-productions of animated works, improve the global distribution of Kadokawa anime by the Sony group, expand the publishing of Kadokawa games and develop resources human resources to promote and intensify production ».
In addition to its activities in advanced technologies, telephony and music, Sony is involved in cinematographic and audiovisual productions and designs and markets the PlayStation game console.
Many licenses to use
Born in 1954 under the name Kadokawa Shoten, Kadokawa devoted itself to publishing, first of literary texts, then, a few decades later, of mangas and finally of light novels .
Among the titles published by this Japanese publishing giant, with multiple subsidiaries, include The Summer Hikaru Died of Mokumokuren (translated by Manon Debienne and Sayaka Okada, Pika), So I’m a Spider, So What ? of Okina Baba, Asahiro Kakashi and Tsukasa Kiryu (translated by Emmanuel Bonavita, Pika) or else Overlordby Kugane Maruyama et al (translated by Yoan Giraud, Ototo).
READ – The Summer Hikaru Died soon on Netflix
So many successful stories which, in the event of a successful takeover for Sony, could well nourish a catalog of future adaptations, whether audiovisual or video games… ” Franchises and characters that we love can live for 30, 50 or even 100 years. We want to invest in such assets to ensure our long-term growth.», Underlined Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida in 2023.
Kadokawa also owns the developer FromSoftware, behind the gamesDark SoulsetElden Ringgreat public successes. The Kadokawa group has gone through some tumultuous episodes in recent years, including a cyberattack and the indictment of its former CEO, Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, suspected of corruption and embezzlement, for facts allegedly linked to the Tokyo Olympic Games. 2020.
Photography : illustration, sports, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
By Antoine Oury
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