AT&T Announces Deal to Sell Crunchyroll to Sony's Funimation For $1.175 Billion
Wow. That’s all I can say. It was recently announced that AT&T has agreed to sell Crunchyroll to Funimation which is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. The price is $1.175 billion “subject to customary working capital and other adjustments, and the proceeds will be paid in cash at closing.”
Now, it should be noted that this deal does require regulatory approvals. While I personally don’t think the deal should go through, I have a hard time believing that it will be struck down. Funimation and Crunchyroll are two of the biggest names in anime outside of Japan and them coming under one umbrella just screams problematic to me.
However, Crunchyroll’s Joanne Waage said:
We are excited to embark on this new journey. Crunchyroll has built a world-class brand with a passionate fan-base of over 3M subscribers, 50M social followers and 90M registered users. These amazing fans have helped to propel anime into a global phenomenon. Combining the strength of the Crunchyroll brand and the expertise of our global team with Funimation is an exciting prospect and a win for the incredible art form of anime.
Tony Goncalves of WarnerMedia, Crunchyroll’s parent company, said:
The Crunchyroll team has done an extraordinary job of not only growing the Crunchyroll brand but also building a passionate community of anime fans. Crunchyroll’s success is a direct result of the company’s culture and commitment to their fans. By combining with Funimation, they will continue to nurture a global community and bring more anime to more people. I’m incredibly proud of the Crunchyroll team and what they have been able to accomplish in the digital media space in such a short period of time. They’ve created an end-to-end global ecosystem for this incredible art form.
Tony Vinciquerra of Sony released the following statement:
We are proud to bring Crunchyroll into the Sony family. Through Funimation and our terrific partners at Aniplex and Sony Music Entertainment Japan, we have a deep understanding of this global artform and are well-positioned to deliver outstanding content to audiences around the world. Together with Crunchyroll, we will create the best possible experience for fans and greater opportunity for creators, producers and publishers in Japan and elsewhere. Funimation has been doing this for over 25 years and we look forward to continuing to leverage the power of creativity and technology to succeed in this rapidly growing segment of entertainment.
This deal still has quite a bit of time before it’s finalized, but what do you think of this? Are you excited that Funimation will own Crunchyroll?
Via: BusinessWire