Sony has closed the deal to buy Anime streaming site Crunchyroll for $1.175 billion.
Sony has been trying to buy Crunchyroll for nine months and has been under review by the US Justice Department, but the Anime streaming site is now officially owned by Sony.
At the end of 2020, Sony announced it would acquire Crunchyroll from AT&T. The site claimed to have 3 million subscribers and over 90 million registered users in over 200 countries at the time. Crunchyroll reports that such numbers had risen to 5 million and 120 million, respectively, in less than a year.
Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has said: “We are very excited to welcome Crunchyroll to the Sony Group. Anime is a rapidly growing medium that enthralls and inspires emotion among audiences around the globe. The alignment of Crunchyroll and Funimation will enable us to get even closer to the creators and fans who are the heart of the anime community. We look forward to delivering even more outstanding entertainment that fills the world with emotion through anime.”
With this latest acquisition, Sony now owns both Funimation and Crunchyroll further strengthening their goal to “create a unified anime subscription experience as soon as possible.”
For the time being Sony has disclosed that Funimation and Crunchyroll will exist as separate entities with few details on what the deal means for subscribers.
Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra has said “With the addition of Crunchyroll, we have an unprecedented opportunity to serve anime fans like never before and deliver the anime experience across any platform they choose, from theatrical, events, home entertainment, games, streaming, linear TV — everywhere and every way fans want to experience their anime.”
Because Sony now owns both Crunchyroll and Funimation the deal was put under some scrutiny. There have been concerns that Sony is attempting to monopolize the anime market, but Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra believes the acquisition is beneficial to all parties involved saying:
“With Crunchyroll and Funimation, we are committed to creating the ultimate anime experience for fans and presenting a unique opportunity for our key partners, publishers, and the immensely talented creators to continue to deliver their masterful content to audiences around the world.”
Sony appears to be committed to promoting anime to a wider audience, as evidenced by its acquisitions of both Anime giants, and only time will tell how the company handles the acquisition in the future.