# Kadokawa Corporation

Kadokawa Corporation (Japanese: 株式会社KADOKAWA, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Kadokawa), formerly Kadokawa Dwango Corporation, is a Japanese conglomerate based in Fujimi, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
Created as a result of the merger of the original Kadokawa Corporation and Dwango Co., Ltd. on October 1, 2014, the company has holdings in entertainment (including anime and video game studios), publishing, and real estate among other assets.
Kadokawa is a member of the Motion Picture Association of Japan (MPPAJ) and is therefore one of the youngest of the Japanese Big Four film studios.

## 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. 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.
On July 1, 2019, Kadokawa Dwango was reorganized again; 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 receive a 1.93% stake in the company.
By August 2021, Kakao Japan had acquired an 8.3% stake in Kadokawa, making them the largest shareholder at the time. 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.
In January 2024, Kadokawa announced that they've entered a partnership with Belgium publishing company Dupuis to acquire a 51% stake in the latter's manga imprint Vega Dupuis and had launched a joint venture business with Dupuis that could bring Kadokawa's own titles as well as publishing Japanese and Korean comics to the French market named Vega SAS with Dupuis retaining a 49% stake in the now joint venture imprint.
In July 2024, the company announced that it had acquired anime studio Doga Kobo.
In November 2024, it was reported that Sony Group Corporation was in talks to acquire Kadokawa. Sony, which had acquired shares in the company in 2021, had previously discussed acquiring Kadokawa outright, but was only interested in its anime and video game assets. However, Kadokawa insisted that acquisition offers encompass the entire company.
On December 19, 2024, Sony announced a "strategic capital and business alliance" with Kadokawa, under which it acquired 12 million new shares for ¥50 billion ($320 million) on January 7, 2025, giving Sony a 10% stake and making them Kadokawa's largest single shareholder. As part of the agreement, Kadokawa is set to collaborate with Sony on projects involving its IPs, including anime co-productions, live-action adaptations, and widening distribution.
On February 2025, Kadokawa announced the merger of Dwango, BookWalker and Kadokawa Connected into one company, with Dwango being the surviving company. This merger won't affect the activities of the merged companies, such as BookWalker, which will continue with its brand and operations but now managed by Dwango.

### Arrest of chairman

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 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Kadokawa has denied the allegations, and his company announced that it would cooperate with the investigation. 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.

### 2024 ransomware attack

On June 8, 2024, a group of hackers called BlackSuit launched a ransomware attack on multiple websites owned by Kadokawa, including the video streaming website Niconico, resulting in most of its services being temporarily suspended. On June 27, the hacker group published a statement on the dark web, claiming responsibility for the attack and threatening to release 1.5 terabytes of stolen data, which included business partner information and user data, unless a ransom was paid.

## Group companies

Kadokawa Corporation serves to bring together several affiliated Japanese companies related to Kadokawa Shoten under what is known as the Kadokawa Group. 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; the film and visual companies deal with Japanese feature films and DVD sales of international films and anime; 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. 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.

### 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.
* Kadokawa J:COM Media: Established in November 2005 as a joint venture between Kadokawa Shoten and J:COM. 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 (13.0%).
* Kadokawa Mobile and Movie Gate: On October 1, 2009, Kadokawa Mobile merged with Movie Gate to form Kadokawa Contents Gate.
* Kadokawa Production: On October 1, 2013, the company was dissolved and integrated into Kadokawa Corporation.
* Mages: On July 12, 2019, Mages was acquired by Chiyomaru Studio, a concept and copyright company also headed by Mages CEO.
* MediaLeaves: On January 10, 2010, MediaLeaves was merged into Enterbrain.
* NTT Prime Square: On November 30, 2010, Fan service ended a 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.
* 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. On September 30, 2010, Kadokawa Group Holdings announced that it will merging Words Gear into Kadokawa Contents Gate, with Kadokawa Contents Gate as the surviving company, effective on January 1, 2011.