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KADOKAWA acquires Anime News Network’s media business 

KADOKAWA announced that it has acquired Anime News Network’s (ANN) media business through its newly established subsidiary Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE).

KADOKAWA in a statement stated that the ANN acquisition is intended to further strengthen the company’s global marketing efforts relating to the digital and physical products handled by BOOK☆WALKER, Yen Press, and J-Novel Club.

It adds that the company plans to further expand all of the group’s businesses in the English-speaking market by strengthening collaboration in the promotion and other areas among each of the group’s aforementioned businesses.

KWE Chief Executive Officer and Yen Press managing director and publisher Kurt Hassler stated that the “acquisition represents an opportunity not only for KADOKAWA to better and more effectively highlight its own content but to enhance ANN’s mission to grow the global audience for manga and anime as a whole while expanding the boundaries of what the site can offer users.”

ANN president Christopher Macdonald will be appointed as the publisher of KWE. Macdonald in a separate statement said that there are no immediate changes to any part of ANN staff and that ANN maintains its editorial integrity and independence. “I will personally remain ANN’s publisher, and our editorial independence is contractually guaranteed,” he explains.

He also unveiled that KWE will be investing significantly in ANN’s software development as part of the acquisition. “A number of new projects will be launched, and a number of projects that have been stuck in development for way too long will be prioritized,” he added.

The acquisition is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. Its transaction value was not disclosed.

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