USA – AT&T Inc., (NYSE:T) is to sell its Crunchyroll anime business to Funimation Global Group, LLC, a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. and Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.’s subsidiary, Aniplex Inc.
The purchase price for the transaction is $1.175 billion subject to customary working capital and other adjustments, and the proceeds will be paid in cash at closing. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. Founded in 2006, Crunchyroll is a premier anime direct-to-consumer service that connects anime and manga fans across 200+ countries and territories with 360-degree experiences. Fans have access to a large collections of licensed anime through Crunchyroll, Anime Digital Network (in partnership with Citel, a subsidiary of Média-Participations), and Anime on Demand video streaming services, translated in multiple languages for viewers worldwide. Crunchyroll’s services also extend to licensing of theatrical, TV, home video, consumer product, and video game rights. Fans engage further with events (including owned events Crunchyroll Expo, Anime Awards, Crunchyroll Movie Nights, KAZÉ Movie Nights), consumer products through eCommerce and retail partners (Crunchyroll, KAZÉ, AV Visionen), Crunchyroll Games, KAZÉ Games, and manga (KAZÉ Manga, Crunchyroll Manga app, Crunchyroll Manga Store). It has more than 3 million SVOD subscribers and serves 90 million registered users across more than 200 countries and territories. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Paris, Lausanne, Chisinau, and Berlin (AV Visionen). VRV (U.S.) and Eye See Movies (Germany) are also Crunchyroll brands.Funimation distributes anime to a global community of fans offering a catalog of over 700 anime series and 13,000+ hours of content available on 15 platforms and in 49 countries. An independently operated joint venture between U.S.-based Sony Pictures Entertainment and Japan’s Aniplex Inc., a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., the company has nine offices in six countries and hundreds of employees worldwide. 10/12/2020
