Forum - View topicNEWS: Navarre Sells Funimation to Group with Gen Fukunaga
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23870 |
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Ah, so at last the uncertainty is over. I'm very glad that Gen Fukunaga will continue to be involved. Time will tell whether this transaction was a good thing or a bad thing for us anime consumers. The one qualm I have about the few details we have so far is that Funi will be on its own without the potential cushion of a larger parent. Alone in the choppy seas of what is today's anme distribution environment. Still, I chose to be cautiously optimistic (until somebody with more knowledge convinces me otherwise).
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Paploo
Posts: 1875 |
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I dunno about that, Bakugan's been creating a new generation of fans. It just seems that for the moment, popular tv anime has shifted back to kids anime until something comes along that catches the right network's attention. I'm guessing another factor in this is the death of Saturday morning cartoons and syndication, as 4Kids's mans the Kids WB lineup as a strange lonely outpost, and most brand-new content is being launched in cable networks like Nick, CN and Disney, who fill most of their lineup out with their own properties. Anime's still finding spots on those networks [Disney has Naruto, CN has Adult Swim, Nick has DBZKai], I imagine it's more of a waiting game for a show to come along that really hits off with those networks. C'mon Charred, cheer up. Crazy internet shenanigans have worn everyone down. This seems like good news- even if Funi's shrunk a bit, they're still viable and it looks like we won't have to worry about their status anymore. Also, Sentai's doing okay from my understanding- The Anime Network's still pretty widespread, and they're outputs been pretty consistent compared to the smaller outputs of Bandai and MB [whose outputs were always smaller anyways] Noy saying everything's great [anime still has it's problems, and I'm guessing the current situation in Japan'll affect things there for a good while, and 4Kids impending doom is unfortunate], but this is a decent sign at least. Vertical's got backing from Kodansha, Kodansha's seriously back into the manga market themselves, Funi's sale is now over and no longer hanging over us, and Tokyopop FINALLY changed their horrific website. Mind you, Tales of Earthsea seems to have met a lukewarm audience, but I think Disney foresaw that. |
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The Naked Beast
 Posts: 1028 Location: A Blue Planet |
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So Funimation is privately owned now? Ah, the wonderful world of business transactions with their own jargon, numbers, and stock options.
I am wondering if this is a good or bad thing in the long run. |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6535 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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I think a lot will be determined by how much the buyers borrowed to make the purchase. If they borrowed heavily, sales are sluggish and interest rates go up (remember, the US is at the bottom of the economic cycle so they are likely to rise) then they could struggle to invest in new titles.
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JohnnySake
 Posts: 582 Location: Auburn Hills, MI |
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Hopefully this means Funimation will be in a little more control of their destiny now, as opposed to being someone else's subsidiary. Using Navarre for dvd distribution makes it seem like they are still on good terms with each other too. I suppose the only downside is that they get to be a little more private with aspects of their financial condition now and we most likely won't get the same information we used to get at stockholder report time.
Good luck with this Funimation!, make the most of it! |
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Big Hed
 Posts: 1607 Location: Melbourne, Australia |
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The bubble hadn't popped when Navarre bought Funimation, which I'm sure has a good deal to do with how much less they sold it for; it's not as bad as it looks (or it was never as good as it seemed). |
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Cecilthedarkknight_234
 Posts: 3820 Location: Louisville, KY |
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i just hope nothing happens, Funi is the only company left I have faith in and I want my damn railgun/index release already.... that aside hmm I am wanting to see how this turns out.
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RoverTX
 Posts: 424 |
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The article says it was a cash transaction, and considering the info about all the new investors involved I wouldn't worry about capital. Hell Fukunaga isn't poor by his lowsome either... btw Does anyone know an estimate of Narvara's on hand liquid reserves? I think they are private so there really isn't any real numbers out there is there? Last edited by RoverTX on Mon Apr 04, 2011 7:21 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1528 Location: Sunny California |
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Maybe Funimation isn't a financial juggernaut, but at least it's not a financial sink hole either. I wish the new owner(s?) good luck. I'm very happy Funi will still be around.
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Mr. sickVisionz
 Posts: 2173 |
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Part of me thinks it's a good thing that Funi is now the pet project of a billionaire anime fan. As long as they break even every year, that guy is probably going to be happy. Not being bound by "silly" things like profitability could lead to good stuff for fans.
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agr964
Posts: 19 |
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Navarre (NAVR) is a publicly traded company. Not sure if this is what you mean, but these are their latest financial reports they have filed with the SEC: http://ir.navarre.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=105157&p=irol-sec Its probably buried in one of those reports, but they are rather long... |
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_V_
 Posts: 619 |
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Navarre paid $125 million to buy FUNimation in 2005. Keep in mind that money was worth more then before the recession really hit.
Estimates I've heard from major retailers (you know the ones) had actually said they estimated FUNimation was only worth one fifth of that today, which matches the $24 million in cash that Navarre sold it for. This of course doesn't mean FUNimation is doing particularly poorly, so much as that the market as a whole drastically shrunk; they control something like 50% of the market. The problem is that the "magic bullet" that allowed FUNimation to survive the anime crash when companies like Geneon were collapsing (and ADV and Bandai reduced to a shadow of their former selves) was that they simply had Navarre keep pumping more money into them the past six years. Eventually, Navarre had to realize that they were never going to make that money back, and had to cut their losses: Navarre has been trying to sell FUNimation for almost a year now, but could not possibly have found a buyer at the $125 million price which Navarre itself paid for it. I think the important aspect of the failed sale of FUNimation the past several months, which no one has mentioned yet, is the drastic impact this has had on Navarre's stock prices. It doesn't exactly instill confidence in investors when very visibly, your publicly traded company cannot sell one of their major media subdivisions. It was becoming an embarrassment, and investors were starting to leave Navarre. Look at these stock charts (click around to select 5 year and 1 year views): http://quote.morningstar.com/Stock/s.aspx?t=NAVR Navarre's stock dropped like a stone around late 2007, when Geneon collapsed and the anime crash hit in earnest (when *no one* could pretend there weren't problems anymore). This decline continued through the crash year of 2008, bottoming out around Christmas 2008/early 2009. This is entirely expected, the market as a whole was crashing. Around mid-2009, when the dust settled, the new paradigm in the anime market had been established: FUNimation and everyone else. FUNimation was the one, dominant company, with the others struggling for their very survival. FUNimation's market share drastically increased, it license-rescued titles from other companies or bought out first pick for new titles. The result was that Navarre's stock drastically increased throughout 2009; not quite to how good it was before the crash of '08, but still very close. It started dipping a bit before christmas 2009, but not that much. Throughout 2010, Navarre's stock was gradually increasing again. Navarre announced it was going to sell FUNimation around May 2010. For a while, this actually made stock prices increase. However, around last October 2010, Navarre obviously wasn't able to find a buyer for FUNimation, not at the asking price they had set, and Navarre's stock started steadily decreasing. Navarre's stock has now fallen to mid-2009 levels. My conclusion is that I suspect that Navarre was starting to panic that they couldn't sell FUNimation at profit or even anymore, they were never getting anything close to $125 million for it, much less for all of the money they pumped into it over the years. In a desperate attempt to re-instill investor confidence that they were *capable of selling the company at all*, Navarre finally had to cave in and pay a scant $24 million for it. It would simply have been too costly to continue holding onto FUNimation, and the debacle over its sale was hurting their stock prices. Well and good; Navarre lost a lot of money. How does this impact FUNimation now? Well I sure hope ANNcast clears this up, but: 1 - so Gen Fukunaga is in control of day-to-day affairs again? Did he ever leave (in 2005)? Will he be more active now? 2 - apparently, Fukunaga allied with some billionaire local investors from Dallas to buy FUNimation, though they did buy it for relatively cheap. 3 - Most importantly, FUNimation no longer has the protective cushion of Navarre anymore; Navarre isn't going to be there to keep pumping money into them. 4 - will the new investors continue to pump money into FUNimation, or are they on their own now? 5 - Is FUNimation indeed "independent" now? It doesn't seem so, it seems they had to get other investors besides Fukunaga...still, is it "more independent" than it was before? Last edited by _V_ on Mon Apr 04, 2011 9:29 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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mglittlerobin
 Posts: 1071 |
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I'm just happy they're going to be in business still, it seems to be a good thing so I'm not complaining.
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RoverTX
Posts: 424 |
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It looks like they have about $80 million is possible capital for all their business ventures, if that's the case comparatively I wouldn't worry to much considering the pull of the new investors about Funimation starving for capital. Edit:
Awesome info and very interesting! |
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Lightning Leo
Posts: 311 Location: Earth |
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Hey, this is cool news, I think!
 It seemed like things were nebulous for awhile there, but for now this seems to give some finality to the situation.
Hopefully, Funimation won't be losing any of what made them cool in the process. Here's to wishing them all good luck! @_V_: That was an interesting analysis, definitely germane to a fuller understanding of Funimation's situation. Although correlation doesn't necessarily imply causation, I suppose given the circumstances this interpretation of Navarre's stock variation relative to Funimation's sale could reasonably be construed as more than subtle speculation. I'm interested in seeing the answers to your questions as well, especially regarding Funimation's autonomy going forward. Last edited by Lightning Leo on Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:40 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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