According to reports, Japan’s Sony Corporation has completed the acquisition of Crunchyroll, an animation business company under US telecom giant AT&T. At the end of last year, Sony officially announced that it would acquire Crunchyroll. This animation content distribution company will be integrated into Sony’s animation streaming business Funimation for unified management and operation.
At that time, Tony Vinciquerra, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said that the reason for the integration of Crunchyroll and Sony’s animation business was because the company wanted to launch a unified animation streaming membership service in the future. Sony paid $1.175 billion for the acquisition of this asset. According to an authoritative US technology media report, AT&T initially hoped to sell this asset for US$1.5 billion, but the goal fell through.
As for the proceeds from the transfer of assets, AT&T plans to use it to reduce the size of the company’s debt. Before, AT&T had spent tens of billions of dollars to acquire film and television media assets, leading to high debts. Today, AT&T has undergone a 180-degree transformation, gradually selling off its film and television media content assets and focusing on its core communications business. Before that, Sony was already working on the animation streaming business, and Crunchyroll assets could enhance the breadth and competitiveness of this business.
The above-mentioned Sony executive Vissenkra said that with the addition of Crunchyroll, Sony has obtained an unprecedented opportunity to better serve animation fans. Sony will provide animation content services on various platforms chosen by fans, including movie theaters, Live events, family, online games, streaming media, traditional TV channels, that is, fans can watch animation content at any time and anywhere.
