Kadokawa Corporation

"KADOKAWA" redirects here. For other uses, see Kadokawa (disambiguation).

Kadokawa Corporation (Japanese: 株式会社KADOKAWA, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Kadokawa), formerly Kadokawa Dwango Corporation,^[3] is a Japanese media conglomerate that was created as a result of the merger of the original Kadokawa Corporation and Dwango Co., Ltd. on October 1, 2014.^[4][5]

Kadokawa Corporation

Headquarters in Fujimi, Chiyoda, Tokyo
Native name	株式会社KADOKAWA
Romanized name	Kabushiki gaisha KADOKAWA
Formerly	Kadokawa Dwango Corporation (2014–2019)
Company type	Public KK
Traded as	TYO: 9468
Industry	Publishing film copyright mass media video games
Founded	November 10, 1945; 78 years ago (1945-11-10) (as Kadokawa Shoten) June 6, 1997; 26 years ago (1997-06-06) (as Dwango) October 1, 2014; 9 years ago (2014-10-01) (as Kadokawa Dwango Corporation)
Founder	Genyoshi Kadokawa (for the Kadokawa Shoten branch)
Headquarters	Fujimi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
Area served	Global
Key people	Takeshi Natsuno (president)
Revenue	¥255,429 million^[1] (2023)
Operating income	¥25,931 million^[1] (2023)
Total assets	¥382,898 million^[1] (2023)
Number of employees	5,349^[2]
Website	group.kadokawa.co.jp/global/

Kadokawa SakuraTown Complex in Tokorozawa, Saitama

History

The holding company known today as Kadokawa Corporation was originally founded in 1945 as Kadokawa Shoten, to "revitalize Japanese culture through publishing" in the postwar era.^[6] It was merged with Dwango Co., Ltd. to form Kadokawa Dwango on October 1, 2014, and became a subsidiary of Kadokawa Dwango.

In February 2019, Kadokawa Dwango announced that Dwango would stop being their subsidiary to be a direct subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation in a reorganization of the company. This made Kadokawa Corporation the sole subsidiary of the holding company Kadokawa Dwango.^[7]

On July 1, 2019, Kadokawa Dwango was reorganized again;^[8] only the publishing business remained in Kadokawa Corporation, and it was renamed Kadokawa Future Publishing, while Kadokawa Dwango itself became the second iteration of Kadokawa Corporation and the holding company of all of the Kadokawa Group companies. The original name Kadokawa Shoten remains as a brand and a division of Kadokawa Future Publishing.

On February 4, 2021, Kadokawa announced that the company had formed a Capital Alliance with Sony and CyberAgent to strengthen the company's creation, development, and acquisition of new IP while also maximizing use of existing IPs. As part of the agreement both Sony and CyberAgent would each receive a 1.93% stake in the company via American investment company of Japanese subsidiary, KKR Japan acquired a 12% stake.^[9]

On October 29, 2021, Kadokawa announced that it had formed a capital and business alliance with Tencent, which acquired a 6.86% stake in the conglomerate for ¥30 billion ($264 million). The aim of the alliance is for Kadokawa to expand its global reach using Tencent's platforms. China, where the company has an existing joint venture with Tencent, is a particular target.^[10]

In September 2022 chairman Tsuguhiko Kadokawa—son of founder Genyoshi—was arrested as part of a police investigation into bribery. Prosecutors alleged that the Kadokawa chairman authorized a ¥76 million payment (adjusted to ¥69 million under Japan's statute of limitations) to a consulting company with ties to a former executive of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee in exchange for being selected as an official sponsor of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. Kadokawa has denied the allegations, and his company announced that it would cooperate with the investigation.^[11] Kadokawa was indicted by prosecutors on October 4, 2022. Later that day he announced his intent to resign as the chairman of his company. He continued to deny the allegations and vowed to prove his innocence at trial.^[12]

Group companies

Kadokawa Corporation serves to bring together several affiliated Japanese companies related to Kadokawa Shoten under what is known as the Kadokawa Group.^[13] These companies are of three types: publishing, film and visuals, and cross media. The publishers primarily deal with books, bunkobon paperbacks, manga, and visual media magazines;^[14] the film and visual companies deal with Japanese feature films and DVD sales of international films and anime;^[15] the cross media companies deal with digital content, urban information and television program information magazines, along with information transmission combining paper media, the Internet, and mobile phones.^[16] Other aspects of the group are handled by the other business segment which primarily takes care of video games, real estate leasing, and comprises an advertising agency.^[17]

Publication BookWalker GeeXPlus, Inc Trista Choubunsha Publishing Co. Comic Walker eb Creative Japan Digital Library Service Kadokawa ASCII Research Laboratories Kadokawa Book Navi Kadokawa Future Publishing ASCII Media Works Building Book Center Chukei Publishing Enterbrain Fujimi Shobo Kadokawa Gakugei Publishing Kadokawa Key-Process Kadokawa Magazines Kadokawa Shoten Media Factory Kadokawa Game Linkage Kadokawa Uplink Mainichi GA Hakken Production Ace Group media Dwango Dehogallery Dwango AG Entertainment Dwango Music Publishing FromNetworks Niconico Project Studio Q Spike Chunsoft Vaka Vantan Virtual Cast Co., Ltd. Watanabe Amaduction Docomo Anime Store K.Sense (80%) Kadokawa Media House Kadokawa Uplink Kids Net Movie Walker Movie Ticket T Gate Smile Edge

Films and visuals ENGI (53%) EuropaCorp Japan Glovision Japan Film Fund Kadokawa Anime Kadokawa Architecture Kadokawa Daiei Studio Globalgate Entertainment Kinema Citrus (31.8%) Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting Movie Walker Persol Media Switch (30%) Studio Kadan Others Acquire ATX Anime Tourism Association Chara-Ani Corporation Customcast C・P・S FromSoftware^[18] (69.66%) Gotcha Gotcha Games Kadokawa ASCII Research Laboratories Cool Japan Travel, Inc. (75%) Kadokawa Architecture Kadokawa Contents Academy Kadokawa Connected Kadokawa Craft K's Lab Karksa Media Partner Corporation (34%) Page Turner Production Ace Tokorozawa Sakuratown Corporation Overseas Animate Oversea (joint venture under Kadokawa Taiwan with Animate and United Distribution Co.) Bookwalker Taiwan Guangzhou Tianwen Kadokawa Animation and Comics Hemisphere Motion Picture Partners I Hemisphere Motion Picture Partners II Japan Manga Alliance (joint venture with Animate, Kodansha, Shueisha and Shogakukan Animate JMA (Thailand) J-Novel Club Kadokawa Amarin (joint venture with Amarin Group, marketed under the brand Phoenix Next) Kadokawa Contents Academy Kadokawa Hong Kong Kadokawa Holdings Asia J-Guide Marketing Kadokawa Gempak Starz (Malaysia) (80%) Kadokawa Holdings US Kadokawa International Edutainment (Taiwan) Kadokawa Pictures America Kadokawa Taiwan Corporation Kadokawa Consulting (Thailand) Kadokawa Qingyu (Shanghai) Culture & Creation Kadokawa World Entertainment (US) Anime News Network^[19]^[20] Phoenix Gramedia Indonesia (joint venture with Kompas Gramedia)^[21]^[22] Sun Wah Kadokawa (Hong Kong) Group Taiwan Animate Yen Press (51%, co-owned with Hachette Book Group)

Technology

Main article: Pixel Game Maker MV

Former subsidiaries

• Asmik Ace
• Daihyakka News: Merged with Dwango in July 2019.
• Kadokawa Entertainment: On November 1, 2009, Kadokawa Entertainment was merged into Kadokawa Pictures.
• Kadokawa Group Publishing: On April 1, 2013, Kadokawa Group Publishing was merged into Kadokawa Group Holdings.
• Kadokawa Games: In May 2022, Kadokawa Games divested its business into a separate company called Dragami Games, including its IPs.^[23]
• Kadokawa J:COM Media: Established in November 2005 as a joint venture between Kadokawa Shoten and J:COM.^[24] It was eliminated in June 2010.
• So-net Kadokawa Link: Established on June 27, 2007, with So-net Entertainment (43.5%), Kadokawa Mobile (43.5%), and Dentsu E-link^[25] (13.0%).^[26]
• Kadokawa Mobile and Movie Gate: On October 1, 2009, Kadokawa Mobile merged with Movie Gate to form Kadokawa Contents Gate.^[27]
• Kadokawa Production: On October 1, 2013, the company was dissolved and integrated in Kadokawa Corporation.
• Mages: On July 12, 2019, Mages was acquired by Chiyomaru Studio, a concept and copyright company also headed by Mages CEO.^[28]
• MediaLeaves: On January 10, 2010, MediaLeaves was merged into Enterbrain.^[29]
• NTT Prime Square: On November 30, 2010, Fan service endedm joint venture with NTT.
• Sarugakucho: Became part of Kadokawa Group Holdings under Enterbrain during the ASCII acquisition. On March 31, 2010, Pole To Win announced that it has acquired Sarugakucho.^[30]
• Studio Lide: Closed in April 2019.
• Words Gear: On September 26, 2006, Panasonic announced the establishment of Words Gear with Kadokawa Mobile and Tokyo Broadcasting System, effective on October 2, 2006.^[31] On September 30, 2010, Kadokawa Group Holdings announced merging Words Gear into Kadokawa Contents Gate, with Kadokawa Contents Gate as the surviving company, effective on January 1, 2011.^[32]

See also

• ASCII Media Works – They split from Kadokawa, but became a subsidiary of Kadokawa again.
• D.League

References

1. (PDF). May 11, 2023. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 11, 2023. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
2. "KADOKAWA Integrated Report 2022". group.kadokawa.co.jp. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
3. カドカワ株式会社, Kadokawa Kabushiki-gaisha, until October 1, 2015 株式会社KADOKAWA・DWANGO
4. "Dwango to merge with Kadokawa". The Japan Times. May 14, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
5. "Publisher Kadokawa, Internet firm Dwango complete merger". The Japan Times. October 1, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
6. "Kadokawa Corporation: Corporation History".
7. Ressler, Karen. "Nobuo Kawakami Steps Down as Kadokawa Dwango President". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
8. "会社分割（簡易吸収分割）の実施、商号変更及び定款一部変更、並びに代表取締役及び役員の異動に関するお知らせ" (PDF). E-IR (in Japanese). Pronexus Inc. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
9. "Kadokawa Corporation Forms Capital Alliance with CyberAgent, Sony". Anime News Network. February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
10. "Notice Concerning Strategic Alliance with Tencent Group" (PDF). Kadokawa Corporation. October 29, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
11. "Kadokawa chairman arrested over Tokyo Olympics bribery scandal". Kyodo News. September 15, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
12. "Publisher Kadokawa's chairman indicted over Olympics bribery". Kyodo News. October 4, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
13. グループ会社一覧 [Group Company Summary] (in Japanese). Kadokawa Group Holdings. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
14. . Kadokawa Group Holdings. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
15. . Kadokawa Group Holdings. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
16. "Cross media businesses under Kadokawa Group Holdings". Kadokawa Group Holdings. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
17. . Kadokawa Group Holdings. Archived from the original on November 17, 2010. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
18. "Report: Kadokawa Acquires Dark Souls Developers From Software". Silliconera. April 28, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
19. "KADOKAWA Announces Acquisition of Anime News Network's Media Business". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
20. "About Kadokawa's Investment in ANN". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
21. "Establishment of a Joint Venture with Gramedia, the largest publisher and largest bookstore network in Indonesia" (Press release). January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
22. "Media Giants Gramedia and Kadokawa Establish a Joint Venture in Indonesia". KAORI Nusantara. January 9, 2024. Retrieved January 11, 2024.
23. "Kadokawa Games to divest part of its business to Dragami Games, a new company established by Yoshimi Yasuda". Gematsu. May 26, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
24. (in Japanese). PR Times. June 14, 2007. Archived from the original on April 4, 2015. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
25. (PDF) (in Japanese). Cyber Communications. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
26. (PDF) (in Japanese). So-net Entertainment. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 12, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
27. 連結子会社 角川モバイルとムービーゲートの合併に関して (PDF) (in Japanese). Kadokawa Group Holdings. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
28. Romano, Sal (July 26, 2019). "Mages goes independent from Kadokawa Group, 5pb. to consolidate into Mages". Gematsu. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
29. (in Japanese). MediaLeaves. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
30. (PDF) (in Japanese). Pole To Win. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 19, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
31. "角川・松下電器・TBS 3社が電子書籍事業会社 「ワーズギア株式会社」設立で合意 ～読書端末とコンテンツを提供～" (in Japanese). Panasonic. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
32. グループ企業再編による 映像・雑誌・デジタル事業の強化について (PDF) (in Japanese). Kadokawa Group Holdings. Retrieved April 11, 2012.

External links

• Official website