Sony is in talks to acquire Japanese media giant Kadokawa Corp., the company behind the Elden Ring game, two people familiar with the matter said, as the tech giant looks to expand its entertainment portfolio.
Negotiations between the two parties are ongoing and, if successful, a deal could be signed in the coming weeks, sources said.
Kadokawa’s stock price closed up 23%, hitting the daily limit. Before the Reuters report, its market capitalization was about $2.7 billion (approximately Rs. 22,791 crore).
Sony declined to comment. Kadokawa said he could not comment.
Sony already owns 2 percent of Kadokawa and has a stake in Kadokawa subsidiary FromSoftware, the developer of the hit fantasy role-playing game.
The critically acclaimed game is a collaboration between veteran game director Hidetaka Miyazaki and Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin.
The game has sold 25 million copies, with the expansion pack Shadow of the Erdtree selling 5 million copies within three days of its release in June.
Kadokawa started as a publisher in 1945 but has expanded franchises such as Re:Zero into games, anime, events, and characters.
The company’s other series include Dungeon Delicious, an animated comic series about adventurers exploring dungeons and eating the monsters they encounter.
The inventor of the Walkman, Sony has transformed from an electronics manufacturer into an entertainment and technology giant spanning movies, music, games and chips.
“Cute characters and intellectual property (IP) can exist for 30, 50 or 100 years,” Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said last year.
“This is something we want to invest in to achieve sustainable growth,” he said.
Sony’s focus includes anime, whose global growth has been fueled by the popularity of streaming services and greater familiarity with Japanese culture.
The group has also successfully expanded the influence of its own game series, adapting the “The Last of Us” game series into a hit HBO TV series.
Sony, which has a market capitalization of about $114 billion (roughly Rs. 962,332 crore), in January called off the $10 billion (roughly Rs. 84,415 crore) merger of its Indian unit with Zee Entertainment Enterprises, saying certain conditions were not met.
Kadokawa’s business has taken a hit in recent years.
In June, we encountered a cyberattack, resulting in data leakage and affecting business activities.
Two years ago, Kadokawa Tsuguhiko, the son of the company’s founder, resigned as chairman after being indicted on bribery charges related to the Tokyo Olympics.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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