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Kadokawa Plans Overseas Streaming of Anime & More via Niconico
posted on by Sarah Nelkin
Publisher Kadokawa and Niconico parent company Dwango announced on Wednesday that the companies have solidified their plans for a merger.
As of next spring, the two companies will merge operations under a holding company. As a result of the merger, the companies are preparing to increase the amount of content that will be available for streaming overseas. Kadokawa is known for its focus on anime and game properties.
Also as a part of the merger, Kadokawa will handle physical products such as movies, anime, music composition, and the publishing of digital and physical books, while Dwango will handle digital products such as Niconico and digital music site Chaku Uta. Niconico will also handle event management. Both companies will work together to produce software and mobile applications.
A member of Kadokawa will serve as the president of the new company, and a member of Dwango will serve as representative director. The two companies formed a capital partnership 2011, with Kadokawa holding 12.2% of Dwango's shares and Dwango holding 2.7% of Kadokawa's shares. The two companies originally partnered with each other in 2010 to distribute e-books, films, anime, and other forms of media content.
At the end of December, Niconico had 37.58 million registered users, 80% of whom were less than 40 years old. Niconico also has 2.17 million paid subscribers as of December.
Kadokawa expanded outside of publishing and into multimedia in 1976 with film production. The company then expanded into anime, games, and electronic publishing. Kadokawa announced last month that it acquired 80% of the game maker From Software and make the smaller company a subsidiary.
