“Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train” attracted about 3.42 million moviegoers over three days. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
TOKYO/NEW YORK Sony Corp. will buy AT&T Inc.’s animation business Crunchyroll for $1.175 billion, the two companies said on Thursday, as the Japanese electronics conglomerate aims to beef up its entertainment content and distribution businesses.
The deal will give Sony access to Crunchyroll’s 3 million paying subscribers across more than 200 countries and regions, helping Sony compete more globally with entertainment giants such as Netflix.
Sony’s Funimation Global Group, a U.S. animation distributor with 1 million paying subscribers, will own Crunchyroll, currently part of AT&T’s WarnerMedia segment.
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Sony to buy anime business Crunchyroll for $1 18b to expand global footprint asiaone.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from asiaone.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Crunchyroll.
Funimation s website also confirmed the acquisition.
Sony reports that the purchase price is US$1.175 billion, to be paid in cash at closing. None of the companies have provided any further details about the acquisition, and the deal is still awaiting regulatory approvals and other conditions.
In the announcement,
Nikkei Asia reported in October that
Sony was in final negotiations for the
Crunchyroll acquisition. At that time, the newspaper reported that
Sony could end up spending more than 100 billion yen ($957 million). The technology website The Information reported in August that AT&T offered
Crunchyroll to
Sony for US$1.5 billion. The Information stated then that
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