Sony confirms intent to buy manga mega corp Kadokawa in effort to consolidate multimedia empire

Sony officially confirms that it has sent a letter of interest to acquire manga and anime publishing powerhouse Kadokawa Corp.

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Sony has 1.7 trillion yen (about $11.7 billion) to spend on strategic investments, share repurchases, and acquisitions and buyouts across the next three years. This treasure trove isn't just spent on buying studios like Bungie, which Sony purchased in 2022 for $3.7 billion. It's spent on all things, including buying up shares in companies like Epic Games, re-purchasing shares to drive up value, and of course the aforementioned company acquisitions.

New reports say that Sony is eyeing Kadokawa Corp for its next buyout. If Sony bought Kadokawa, it would inherit a vast billion-dollar global multimedia empire that could fill in the missing pieces in Sony's IP catalog. Kadokawa is a leading publisher of manga and anime across the world, and it also owns a few game studios, including the popular Elden Ring developer FromSoftware as well as Spike Chunsoft.

If Sony bought Kadokawa, it would have pretty much all of its multimedia bases covered: Games through PlayStation, movies through Sony Pictures, music and audio through Sony Music, anime through Crunchy Roll and Funimation, and manga publishing and a dearth of IPs through Kadokawa.

Official details have been light so far, but now Sony has confirmed its intent to buy Kadokawa.

A Sony rep gave Yahoo Japan the following statement:

"We cannot comment beyond the contents of the timely disclosure. It is true that we have expressed our initial intentions. We would appreciate it if you would refrain from asking about it further."